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HOW  NOT  TO  BE  SICK. 


A  SEQUEL  TO  "PHILOSOPHY  OF  EATING.'* 

BY 

ALBERT  J.  BELLOWS,  M.D., 

AUTHOR  OF  "  PHILOSOrHY  OP  EATING,"  LATE  PBOFESSOE  OF  CHEMISTEY, 
PHYSIOLOGY,  HYGIENE,  ETC. 

To  eat  to  live  is  to  live  to  eat. 


FOURTH  EDITION, 
WITH  APPENDIX,  "  IS  PHOSPHATIC  BREAD  POISONOUS?" 


NEW  YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  HUED  AND  HOUGHTON, 
FOB  THE  AUTHOB. 
1869. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1868,  by 
ALBERT  J.  BELLOWS, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  ©f  Massachusetts. 


hl3 


PREFACE. 


In  "  The  Philosophy  of  Eating,"  to  which  this  little  volume 
is  intended  as  a  sequel,  I  have  endeavored  to  establish  the 
following  propositions  :  — 

That  when,  In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heaven 
and  the  earth,"  a  plan  was  instituted  and  laws  made  by 
which  in  the  soil  of  all  the  earth  should  be  deposited  all 
the  elements  of  the  human  system,  excepting  those  deposited 
in  the  atmosphere,  and  in  the  water,  and  by  which  the 
"  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding 
fruit  after  its  kind,"  should  take  up  these  elements,  and  keep 
them  in  deposit,  to  be  eaten  directly  by  man,  and  thus  furnish 
all  the  requisite  elements  to  keep  the  system  in  repair ;  or 
to  be  eaten  by  animals,  and  be  deposited  in  their  flesh  for 
the  same  purpose. 

That  no  elements  except  those  thus  prepared  are  ever 
allowed  to  enter  the  composition  of  the  human  system,  and 
that  even  these  elements  cease  to  be  capable  of  assimilation 
as  soon  as  the  herb  or  the  flesh  that  contains  them  becomes 
disorganized  by  decomposition  ;  becoming,  in  that  case,  im- 
mediately poisonous.  That  these  organized  elements  are 
mixed  in  the  right  proportions,  varying  only  in  their  muscle- 
making,  heat-producing,  and  brain-feeding  elements,  to  adapt 
them  to  various  conditions  in  regard  to  climate,  physical, 
and  mental  exercise,  &c.,  so  that  anywhere  from  the  equator 
to  the  poles  we  find  food  adapted  to  our  circumstances. 

That  in  separating  the  muscle-making  elements  from  the 
heating,  as  is  done  in  the  making  of  butter,  fine  flour,  and 
sugar,  we  supply  the  system  with  too  large  a  proportion  of 
heating  elements,  and  not  only  waste  a  large  part  of  those 
expensive  articles  of  food,  but  by  keeping  the  temperature 
too  high,  predispose  to  and  induce  most  of  the  inflammatory 
diseases  to  which  we  are  subject. 

That  our  unperverted  tastes  and  appetites  act  in  harmony 
with  these  laws,  protecting  the  system  from  harm,  promoting 

70(1676 


4 


PREFACE. 


our  enjoyment  in  keeping  the  commandments,  and  obeying 
our  modified  instmcts.  .     j./r  ^ 

That  the  different  organs  and  functions  require  ditterent 
elements  of  food,  and  have  the  power  of  taking  from  it,  while 
circulating  in  the  blood,  these  different  elements,  according 
to  their  requirements  ;  and  that  no  organ  can  perform  its 
duties  unless  proper  elements  are  thus  supplied. 

That  some  articles  of  food  contain  more  and  some  less  ot 
the  elements  required  under  different  circumstances  ;  so  that, 
by  a  table  of  analyses  of  the  different  articles,  comparmg 
them  with  the  demands  of  the  different  organs  and  functions, 
under  different  circumstances,  we  can  at  any  time  adjust 
our  diet  to  our  circumstances. 

If  these  propositions  are  established,  —  and  m  over  two 
hundred  reviews  or  notices  of  the  book  by  editors  or  literary 
men,  not  solicited  or  paid  for,  not  one  of  them  has  been 
controverted  or  denied,  —  there  must  be  many  important  prac- 
tical inferences  to  be  drawn  from  them  pertaining  to  the 
choice  of  food  for  different  classes  of  people,  under  their 
varied  circumstances,  and  pertaining  to  the  prevention  and 
cure  of  the  various  diseases  to  which  we  are  subject  m  con- 
sequence of  bad  food,  bad  cooking,  &c.  ,  i  ;i 
Some  of  these  inferences  are  drawn  m  the  text-book,  and 
will  be  found  under  the  heads  —  Bread-making  ;  Professor 
Horsford's  Phosphatic  Bread  ;  French  Plan  of  Bread-making  ; 
Analysis  of  the  different  Kinds  of  Food  in  common  Use  ;  the 
loss  of  strengthening  Elements  in  fine  Flour,  Butter,  and 
Sugar;  Food  for  the  Brain  and  Nerves;  Food  for  Pre- 
cocious Children  ;  Food  for  Old  People  ;  Food  for  Chddren  ; 
How  to  purify  the  Blood  ;  Value  of  Pure  Water  ;  Uses  and 
Abuses  of  Alcoholic  Drinks,  Wines,  Tea,  and  Coffee ;  The 
Value  of  the  Principle  which  gives  Pebsh  to  tood,  &c.; 
Bathing  and  Friction  of  the  Skin  ;  Use  of  Condiments,  &c. 

But  having  received  numerous  requests  that  its  principle 
mi-ht  be  carried  out  more  in  detail  on  practical  subjects, 
the"  "How  Not  to  be  Sick"  is  the  answer. 

A.  J  B 

No.  90  Springfield  Street,  ' 
Boston,  Nov.,  1868. 


PAQB 

Thinking  Men,  Food  for.         .      •      .      .      .      .      •  11 

Laboring  Men,  Food  for.  22 

EcDHomy  in  using  Natural  Food.  42 

Gustatory  Enjoyment,  how  obtained.    •      •       •      •       •  44 

Sedentary  People,  Food  for  •       .       .  51 

Winter,  Food  for.   56 

Chronic  Diseases  cured  by  Diet.       ......  60 

Summer,  Food  for   66 

Dyspepsia,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet.        •       •       .       .  69 

Smell,  a  Guardian  Angel   82 

Taste,  a  Guardian  Angel.  86 

Consumption,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet   91 

Inflammations,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet.   •              .       .  128 

Animal  Food,  is  it  injurious  ?   136 

Medical  Hobbies   .  .138 

Consumption  of  the  Blood   142 

Vigilance  the  price  of  Health.   151 

Apoplexy  and  Neuralgia  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet.        .  157 

Teeth  defective,  how  prevented  by  Diet.          ....  161 

Heart  Diseases,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet.  .  .  .  176 
Corpulence,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet.       .       .       •  .181 

Leanness,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet   190 

Medicines,  their  Uses  and  Abuses                                        .  203 

Doctors,  why  they  differ   209 

Currents  and  Counter  Currents  in  Medical  Science."    .       .  232 

Crusade  against  Homeopathy.      ......  247 

City  Hospital   256 

Medicines  a  Gift  from  God.   279 

Three  Systems  of  Practice  of  Medicine.         ....  285 

Domestic  Practice.    How  to  select  Medicines.     .       .       .  308 

Virtues  of  twenty  principal  Medicines  for  Families.        .       .  326 

Sun-stroke,  its  Cause  and  Prevention.         ....  333 

Poisons  from  Water  Pipes,  Cooking  Utensils,  Bread,  &c.        .  345 

Galvanic  Action  dissolving  Metals  in  every  Kitchen.    .       .  356 

Gout,  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet.   344 

Grecian  Bend   361 

(5) 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Acids  needed  every  Day.  20 

Aconite.    Arsenicum.   ^26 

Agassiz  on  Fish  Diet  •       •  .13 

Animal  Food,  is  it  injurious  ?  136 

Apoplexy,  its  Cause  and  Prevention  157 

Appetite,  how  always  to  be  good.  '  .  ...  193-195 
Atmosphere,  how  made  impure  ^3 

Banting,  the  fat  Englishman  61,  186 

Beans  and  Peas,  Nutriment  in  them  29 

Blood  impure,  the  Cause  of  Consumption.  .       .         93,  142 

Blood,  how  to  purify  it.  147-149 

Breath,  why  not  always  sweet  197 

Bladder,  Inflammation  of.  ^1^ 

Belladonna,  Bryonia,  Baptisia  -327 

Curse  for  Adam's  Transgression  1^ 

Chamomilla,  Colocynth,  Collinsonia  328 

Cheese,  strengthening  Power  of.  19,  26 

Corn,  Southern,  more  strengthening  than  Northern.    .       .  28 

Climate,  Adaptation  of  Food  to  57 

Cheese,  Effects  of,  in  excessive  Quantities.  ...  62 
Children,  their  Tastes  perverted  the  first  Day  of  Life.     .       '  ^  '^^ 

Consumption,  its  Causes   91,  94,  95,  96 

from  compressing  the  Chest  9o,  104 

from  eating  heating  Food  96,  106 

from  low-neck  Dresses  97,  105 

from  crude  Medicines.   98 

from  had  Air.  

why  most  prevalent  in  cold  Climates  94 

made  worse  by  Whiskey,  Cod-liver  Oil,  heating  Food,  &c.  99 
made  worse  by  Iron,  Phosphorus,  and  all  crude  Drugs.     .  98 

hereditary  not  necessarily  fatal  113 

may  be  prevented,  and  may  be  cured.  .  .  .  114,  124 
danger  of  a  vacillating  Course  of  Treatment.       .       .  117 

danger  of  erroneous  Teachings  120 

Constipations,  Cathartics  318 

Croup,  how  to  treat  it  • 

Corpulence,  may  be  cured  philosophically.      ...  181 

Banting's  Method  of  Cure  defective  186 

Examples  of  Cure  '  •       •  1^^ 

the  Principle  of  Cure  1^2 

Cheerfuhiess  promotes  Digestion  ^201 


CONTENTS.  7 

FAGB 

Crusade  against  Homeopathy.  •       •       •      •  .  247 

Crusade  Number  Two.         .       •      •      •      •      •       •  263 

Cramps  and  Celics,  how  cured.  316 

Diseases  cured  by  Diet.  60 

Diseases  of  the  Heart  produced  by  Cheese.      ♦      ...  62 

Dyspepsia,  its  Cause  and  Cure  •  69 

Animals  in  their  natural  State  exempt  from  it.         .       .  71 

Infants  have  it  on  the  first  Day  of  Life.        ...  72 

how  it  is  developed  by  wrong  Diet.    •       ....  73 

how  it  may  be  cured.  •  75 

Digestion,  the  Process  of.        ......      73,  199 

Doctors  differ,  how  then  decide?  .       .     *  .      .       .       .  225 

Drugs  always  do.  Harm.                                            204,  227,  280 

Dose  of  Medicine.  224 

Dangerous  Neighbors.  283 

Domestic  Practice,  Books,  &c.   310 

Diphtheria,  Treatment  of.   314 

Diarrhoea  and  Dysentery,  how  to  be  treated.       .       •       .  317 

Economy  of  eating  natural  Food.     •       .       .       .       •  .42 

Errors,  dangerous  123 

Eating  slowly  important.  200 

too  much,  how  avoided.  33 

how  to  enjoy  it.  75 

Experiments  on  the  Sick  dangerous  and  useless.         .  210-212 

Fruits,  Nourishment  in  them.   20 

how  to  be  kept  the  Year  round   79 

important  in  warm  Weather   67 

their  Acids  are  necessary  every  Day   20 

Farmers,  how  degenerated.  •  25 

Fish,  furnishes  Food  for  the  Brain   13 

why  Trouts  are  better  than  Eels   16 

are  phosphatic  Food.  12 

wants  carbonaceous  Elements.      .       .       •       •       •  31 

Pood,  Variety  necessary.  36 

what  Combination  necessary  daily.        ....  38 

containing  Excess  of  muscle-making  Elements.        .       •  39 

containing  Excess  of  carbonaceous  Elements.      .      .  40 

how  to  relish  it.  •  .197 

how  wasted  •       •  24 

the  Pleasures  of  eating  natural  Food.       .      .      •  .44 

why  to  be  eaten  slowly.   1^^ 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Food,  why  to  be  eaten  cheerfully   202 

why  to  be  eaten  at  regular  Times  

Flavor,  how  preserved  in  cooking  

Fixed  Principles  important  in  Sickness  305 

Flour  the  principal  Source  of  excessive  Heat.  •  •  .  40 
Fermentation,  how  to  prevent  it.  '^^ 

Gout,  Prevention  and  Cure  of.  

Gladiators  lived  on  Barley.  22 

Greenland,  Food  in.  *      *      *  38 

Gelseminum. 
precian  Bend. 

22 

Horses,  how  trained   •      •  • 

Habits,  wrong,  perpetuated.  ^ 

Hernia  cured  by  Diet.   

Hobbies,  medical  •      •      '  i^/. 

Health,  how  to  preserve  it  ^" 

Hereditary  Diseases,  how  transmitted.     •      .      •      •      •  l'^: 

Heart,  Diseases  of,  how  cured  ^'^^ 

Homeopatliy,  is  it  reasonable  ?  

effects  of  Medicines.      .       .       •       •       •      •       •  ^32 

misrepresented.  

Old  School  Doctors  practise  it.      .       .       •      •       •  239 

243 

no  Deception  m  it  

how  it  was  to  be  killed  in  an  Hour  247 

and  AUopathy,  the  Difference  between  them.    .      .  267-270 

in  France  272 

opinions  of  learned  Men  respecting  it  268 

its  present  Condition  in  Europe.    .       .       •       •       •  250 

the  Effect  of  Opposition  to  it  in  Boston  277 

Hahnemann's  Ghost  

Hospital,  Keport  of,  by  Dr.  Lawrence.  *  '  *  '  '  It. 
Hospital,  the  Contest  of  Doctors.  .  .  •  .  •  271 
Heroic  Treatment.    .      .      •      •     •     *      "    oq.  oL 

High  and  Low  Dilutions   320 

Headaches,  how  cured.       .      .  •      '  ' 

Hepar  Sulphur,  Hippocastanum,  and  Hydrastes,  as  Medicmes.  32^ 

Inflammations,  how  to  be  treated.        .       .       •       •        128,  313 

Iron  dangerous  as  Medicine  •       '  q 

Infinitesimal  Atoms  produce  Disease  298 

Ipecac,  its  Uses  as  a  Medicine.  ^29. 


CONTENTS. 


9 


PAGB 

Laboring  Men,  Food  fori      .       .       •       •      ...  22 

Lungs,  Structure  of.  

Life,  how  to  prolong  it. 

Leanness,  how  prevented  and  how  cured  190 

Law  of  Cure.        .       .       •       •  214 

Louse  drowned  in  a  Lake.       .      *      •   -  • 

29 

Meats,  the  Lean  of.  ;      •  ^ 

give  Strength  according  to  the  Activity  of  the  Animal.     .  16 

Mould  always  dangerous.  ^ 

Medicines,  how  to  avoid  them  1^' 

how  to  select  them.       .       .       •       •       •       •        l^^,  308 

their  Uses  and  Abuses   218 

a  Gift  from  God.  ^'^^ 

the  Virtues  of  such  as  are  needed  in  Families.  .  328-331 
domestic  Use  of.   309 

Mothers  sacrifice  their  Children.   ....      50,  165,  283 
nursing  and  expectant,  responsible  for  the  Defects  of 
their  Children  1^^' 

Mercurius,  what  it  is  used  for  

Neuralgia,  how  to  relieve  it  319-330 

Nux  Vomica,  its  Use  as  a  Medicine  .329 


Phospliates  in  Food  promote  vital  Action. 


.      .  16 

QAf7 

in  raising  Bread  poisonous.       .      »      •      •       •      •  oti 

are  lost  in  cooking.  

in  Consumption  dangerous.       .      .      •      •       •  .120 

Parents,  Responsibility  of.  .  

Poison  from  Copper   346 

from  Lead  *      *      '  olft 

from  Zinc.         .  . 

from  Iron.      .       •       •  • 

*-?4-7 

from  Phosphorus.       .       .  •  

from  Galvanic  Action. 

in  Lead  Pipes.  .  

in  Boilers  and  Cisterns.        .       *  *    .       .       •       •  346 

in  Cooking  Utensils.  .  

'  A  ....  347 
m  Bread.  .  

in  other  Food   .      .       .  • 

Pigs  have  clean  JMouths.  •  ' 

Practice  of  Medicine,  three  Modes.         .      .      •      •  ^ 

Persecution,  its  practical  Effects.  


10 


CONTENTS, 


Pleurisy,  how  to  be  treated.  314 
Prize-fighters,  how  prepare  themselves.  •  .  •  .  22 
Phytolacca,  Podophylon,  Pulsatilla,  as  Medicines.  •      •      .  330 

Review  of  Dr.  Lawrence's  Report  265 

Rheumatism,  how  treated.       •       •      •      •      •      •  .116 

Quack,  what  is  a.  •      •      •  264 

Sermons  made  on  fat  Pork,  12 
Soldiers' Rations.  ..•##•••  32 
Sedentary  People,  Food  for.     .       #      •      •      •      •  .61 

Scrofulous  Sores  cured  by  Diet.  64 
Summer,  Food  for.  66 
Smell,  a  Guardian  Angel.  84 
Sugar,  &c.,  how  they  injure  the  Teeth.  »  «  •  .  .  166 
Systems  of  Practice  compared.  .  .  #  #  .  216,  303 
Statistics  of  Diseases  treated  differently.         .       .       .    218,  269 

Sickness,  what  to  do  first  in.  313 

Sticta  as  a  Medicine.  331 

Sun-stroke,  its  Cause  and  Prevention  333 

Thinking  Men,  Food  for.   11 

Teeth,  how  to  secure  good  Teeth  for  Children.         •      .  165 

defective  for  want  of  Nourishment.          ....  164 

Mothers  responsible  for  the  Teeth  of  their  Children.    •  165 

bad  Teeth  hereditary.   173 

injured  by  carbonaceous  Food   26 

Taste,  a  Guardian  Angel.   36 

Taste  perverted.   •  • 

Treatment,  expectant,  or  Nature-trusting.       ....  287 

«  Tonsils  swelled,  how  treated.  314 
Tartarized  Antimony  as  a  Medicine.       •      •      •      •  .331 

Veratrum  as  a  Medicine.  331 

Vegetable  Food,  Effects  of.   137 

Vigilance  the  Price  of  Health   151 

Vacillation  in  Practice  dangerousr,  307 

Wheat,  four  hundred  Varieties  of.       •      •      •      •      •  16 

Winter,  Food  for  56 

Water,  how  to  get  it  pure.  80 


HOW  mT  TO  BE  SICK. 


A  SEQUEL  TO  "  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EATING." 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 

That  one  set  of  principles  in  food  enables  us  to  use 
the  muscles,  that  another  set  enables  us  to  keep  up  the 
animal  heat,  and  another  promotes  the  action  of  the 
brain  and  nerves,  and  enables  us  to  think,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  show.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages 
16  and  17.) 

That  phosphorus  is  used  up  in  thinking,  as  nitrogen 
is  used  in  working  the  muscles,  and  carbon  in  furnish- 
ing animal  heat  and  fat,  I  think  Ras  also  been  clearly- 
demonstrated.     (Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  87.) 

This  idea,  though  not  new  to  physiologists,  has 
never  been  made  practical,  and,  indeed,  I  have  seen 
no  attempt  to  develop  it  either  for  philosophical  or 
practical  purposes. 

Vauqualin  and  L'Harittee,  two  celebrated  French 
chemists,  laid  the  foundation  of  its  development  in  their 

m 


12 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


analyses  of  the  human  brain,  proving,  as  they  did,  that 
the  brains  of  infants  and  idiots  contain  less  than  half 
the  phosphorus  that  is  found  in  the  brains  of  men  of 
common  intellect,  and  that  the  proportion  of  phospho- 
rus found  was  in  proportion  to  the  intellect;  but  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  it  has  remained  with- 
out development  or  practical  application. 

Meantime  it  has  also  been  proved  by  analysis  of  the 
secretions,  that  the  more  active  the  brain,  the  more 
phosphorus  is  used  up  and  throvm  off  by  the  system, 
clergymen  using  up  more  on  Sunday,  and  lawyers  on 
court  days,  than  at  other  times.    And  yet  our  profes- 
sional men  have  lived  as  other  men  live,  —  eating  what 
has  come  before  them,  without  considering  whether  the 
elements  they  take  are  adapted  to  develop  stupidity  or 
mental  vigor ;  eating,  perchance,  such  stupefying  arti- 
cles as  ham,  or  fat  pork,  and  white  bread  and  butter, 
while  making  or  preaching  a  sermon,  and  such  phos- 
phatic  food  as  trouts  and  other  fish,  with  unbolted  bread, 
vegetables,  and  fruits,  when  idle  and  rusticating.  But 
a  little  observation  would  show  a  vast  difference  in  the 
quality  of  sermons  whether  made  and  preached  on  car- 
bonaceous or  phosphatic  diet ;  and  the  estimate  of  the 
old  divine,  "  of  the  number  of  tons  of  beans  and  pork 
preached  to  in  New  England  every  Sunday,  while  the 
owners  were  asleep,"  might  be  offset  by  an  estimate  of  • 
the  number  of  congregations,  not  only  in  New  England, 
but  in  Old  England,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  fat  and 
starch  eating  world,  who  are  put  asleep  by  sermons 
made  from  stupefying  principles  extracted  from  fat  pork, 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


13 


fat  beef,  and  superfine  floui*.  (Philosophy  of  Eating, 
pages  16  and  17.) 

The  principle  that  mental  activity  depends  on  phos- 
phatic  food,  I  have  been  gratified  to  notice,  has  been 
recently  endorsed  by  Professor  Agassiz,  in  h.s  address 
before  the  committee  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
on  the  propagation  and  preservation  of  fishes. 

He  said,  as  reported  in  the  Boston  Journal,  "  The  fish 
enters  largely  into  the  requisition  of  the  human  system. 
It  is  a  kind  of  food  which  refreshes  the  system,  espe- 
cially after  intellectual  fatigue.  There  is  no  other 
article  of  food  that  supplies  the  waste  of  the  head  so 
thoroughly  as  fish  diet ;  and  the  evidence  of  it  is  in  the 
fact  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  sea  shores,  the  world 
over,  are  the  brighter  population  of  the  country.  Fish 
contains  phosphorus  to  a  large  extent,  —  a  chemical 
element  which  the  brain  requires  for  growth  and 
health.  He  would  not  say  that  an  exclusive  use  of 
fish  would  make  a  blockhead  a  wise  man ;  but  that  the 
brain  should  not  be  wanting  in  one  of  its  essential 
elements." 

But  man  cannot  live  on  fish  alone,  that  food  being 
generally  deficient  in  carbonaceous  elements  to  furnish 
animal  heat ;  and  we  need  a  variety  of  food,  one  article 
being  adapted  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  others ;  and 
everywhere  in  the  habitable  world  nature  has  fur- 
nished this  variety,  adapting  it  to  different  climates, 
tastes,  constitutions,  employments,  and  habits  of  life. 
For  every  animal  but  man  appropriate  food  is  placed, 
already  cooked  and  prepared  for  digestion,  within  the 


14 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


reach  of  every  species,  in  its  own  limited  sphere,  and 
its .  instincts  direct  with  unerring  certainty  to  the  food 
best  adapted  to  its  development  and  health ;  but  man, 
having  intellect,  is  expected  to  use  it  in  studying  the 
wants  of  the  system,  and  in  analyzing  food  to  ascer- 
tain its  adaptedness  to  supply  those  wants,  in  the  desti- 
tute condition  in  which  he  is  placed,  as  implied  in  the 
sentence,  "  Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake  :  in  sor- 
row shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life ;  thorns 
alyo  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and  thou 
shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground." 

Differ  as  we  may  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  this 
passage,  we  find  man  in  a  condition  in  regard  to  food 
very  different  from  that  of  other  animals.  Instead  of 
having  everything  ready  at  his  hand,  he  must  cultivate 
the  herbs,  and  the  grasses,  and  tuberous  roots,  the 
grains,  and  vegetables,  and  fruits,  and  every  luxury 
must  be  obtained  by  dint  of  his  wits  and  his  industry. 
All  he  finds  growing  spontaneously  are  a  few  berries 
and  small  imperfect  fruits,  and  perhaps  the  juices  of 
some  plants  and  vegetables ;  everything  else  must 
be  cooked  and  prepared  to  be  capable  of  digestion 
and  of  furnishing  nourishment,  —  all  our  delicious 
apples,  and  peaches,  and  grapes,  and  other  fruit,  are 
brought  to  the  perfection  in  which  we  now  find  thera 
by  cultivation  from  these  berries  and  small  imper- 
fect natural  fruits.  And  all  our  grains  and  succulent 
plants  and  vegetables,  which  are  our  .  main  dependence 
for  food,  are  cultivated  from  the  seeds  of  grasses,  and 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


15 


from  plants  so  unlike  these  excellent  articles,  that  the 
origin  of  many  of  them,  though  doubtless  still  growing 
wild,  is  not  recognized.  For  interesting  examples  of 
this  change,  wrought  in  many  common  articles  of  food, 
see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  299-305. 

To  assist  in  selecting  articles  of  food  with  suitable 
proportions  of  elements  for  muscles  and  brains,  under 
different  conditions  and  occupations  in  life,  you  will  find 
analyses  of  about"  fifty  articles,  embracing  most  if  not 
all  articles  of  food  in  common  use  in  the  civilized  world, 
in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  121-125. 

They  are  selected  with  great  care,  from  English, 
French,  German,  and  American  analyses,  but  cannot 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  be  positively,  but  only  proxi- 
mately correct;  for  no  two  specimens  of  any  article, 
growing  on  different  soils  and  in  different  climates,  are 
found  to  contain  precisely  the  same  elements  in  the  same 
proportions.  For  example  :  Of  the  four  hundred  dif- 
ferent varieties  of  wheat,  described  and  anal}  zed  by  the 
French  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  no  two  are  found 
to  contain  the  same  elements  in  precisely  the  same  pro- 
portions. Still,  as  a  means  of  comparing  one  kind  of 
grain  and  food  with  others,  and  of  adapting  them  to 
our  particular  conditions  and  circumstances  in  life, 
these  tables  cannot  fail  to  be  practically  valuable  to  any 
one  who  shall  give  attention  to  them. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  ordinary  circumstances  of  tem- 
perature, muscular  and  mental  exercise,  &c.,  the  propor- 
tions required  are  about  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  nitrates, 
or  muscle-making  elements,  to  sixty-five  to  seventy  of 


16 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


carbonates,  or  heat-producing  elements,  and  two  or  three 
per  cent,  of  phosphates,  or  food  for  brains  and  nerves, 
or  a  little  more  than  fom*  times  as  much  carbonaceous 
food  as  nitrogenous,  while  the  proportion  of  phosphates 
vary  much,  and  are  to  be  used  more  or  less  according 
to  mental  and  physical  activity,  and  that  the  proportions 
of  th^se  different  elements  are  various  in  different  arti- 
cles, giving  a  wide  field  for  selection  and  adaptation. 
And  in  the  selection  of  animal  food,  it  is  of  great 
practical  use  also  to  recur  to  the  principles  explained. 
(Philosophy  of  ^Eating,  pages  82-90.) 

The  amount  of  phosphatic  food  contained  in  the  flesh 
of  any  animal,  and  the  physical  and  mental  activity  im- 
parted by  it,  is  in  exact  proportion  to  the  activity  of 
that  animal,  the  flesh  of  the  trout,  pickerel,  or  salmon 
imparting  much  more  mental  and  physical  vigor  than 
that  of  the  dormant  pout,  eel,  or  flounder,  and  the  flesh 
of  the  wild  bison  or  hog  more  than  that  of  the  domes- 
tic ox  or  hog  of  the  same  species,  and  of  the  active 
working  ox  more  than  that  of  the  dormant  hog  or  calf, 
which  are  fed  and  fattened  in  a  pen,  without  exercise. 
And  the  same  remark  holds  true  in  relation  to  the  flesh 
of  wild  and  domestic  fowls. 

Without  going  to  tables  of  analysis,  therefore,  much 
assistance  can  be  had  in  selecting  food  for  the  brain  by 
reference  to  this  principle. 

In  comparing  these  various  articles  of  food,  with  a 
view  to  determine  their  adaptation  to  our  particular  cir- 
cumstances, the  considerations  mentioned  in  Philosophy 
of  Eating,  page  123,  and  elsewhere,  must  be  noticed. 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


17 


Neither  the  comparative  proportions  of  heat-giving, 
muscle-making,  or  brain-feeding  elements  are  exactly 
indicated  by  the  carbonates,  nitrates,  or  phosphates  of 
the  tables ;  the  heating  and  fattening  power  of  butter, 
and  the  fat  of  animals,  being  two  and  one  half  times 
greater  than  those  of  starch  and  sugar,  and  fibrin  and 
casein  giving  greater  muscular  power  than  albumen, 
while  the  different  effects  of  the  different  phosphates 
are  still  more  important,  as  is  shown  by  the  table  of 
analysis.     (Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  123.) 

Phosphates  of  potash  and  soda  furnish  the  brain  and 
nerve  power,  while  phosphates  of  lime  and  magnesia 
furnish  the  basis  of  the  bones,  so  that  in  this  respect 
these  tables  of  analysis  only  approximate  to  the  practical 
truth.  They  are,  however,  sufficiently  accurate  for  the 
common  duties  of  life  ;  but  for  thinking  men  the  follow- 
ing considerations  are  necessary. 

On  page  16,  Philosophy  of  Eating,  it  is  intimated 
that  the  phosphates  should  be  subdivided  into  soluble 
and  insoluble  phosphates,  and  this  for  thinking  men  is 
an  important  distinction,  both  as  it  relates  to  the  selec- 
tion of  food  and  its  preservation  and  preparation.  Take 
for  example,  beef  or  fish,  which  contain  both  soluble 
phosphates  for  the  brain  and  insoluble  phosphates  for 
the  bones.  In  pickling  in  brine,  or  in  boiling,  the  sol- 
uble  phosphates  and  much  of  the  albumen  are  lost  in 
the  water,  and  of  course  boiled  or  salted  beef  or  fish 
is  not  suitable  food  for  the  thinking  man,  although, 
retaining  as  it  does  the  insoluble  phosphates  and  fibrin, 
it  may  be  good  food  for  the  laboring  man.  And  the 
2 


18 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


same  considerations  enter  into  the  question  of  cooking 
or  preparing  all  meats  and  vegetables. 

The  nitrates  and  phosphates  of  all  meats  and  vegeta- 
bles are  partly  soluble  and  partly  insoluble,  and  there- 
fore in  soaking  in  cold  water,  all  lose  much  that  is 
important,  especially  to  the  thinking  man.  In  cold 
water,  albumen  is  dissolved  or  lost,  but  in  hot  water 
the  albumen  is  coagulated,  and  mostly  retained ;  but  in 
hot  water  as  well  as  cold  the  soluble  phosphates  are 
lost.  Neither  fish,  nor  meats,  nor  vegetables  should 
therefore  ever  be  pickled  in  brine,  nor  should  they  be 
boiled,  unless  in  a  little  water,  as  in  the  admirable  ar- 
rangement of  Zimmermann  or  Duncklee,  where  all  the 
soluble  materials,  as  well  as  all  the  flavor,  are  retained 
in  the  water  that  is  necessary  to  keep  up  the  steam,  and 
being  used  as  gravy  or  soup,  all  the  elements  are  saved, 
as  nature  intended. 

In  roasting  also,  or  broiling,  or  indeed  in  any  man- 
ner of  cooking,  care  must  be  taken  not  to  burn  up  or 
otherwise  destroy  or  lose  any  of  the  juices  of  either 
vegetable  or  animal  food ;  especially  is  this  important 
for  thinking  men  and  for  those  whose  digest:lon  is  feeble, 
the  power  of  the  stomach  as  well  as  the  power  of  the 
brain  being  dependent  on  soluble  phosphorus.  And 
especially  is  the  power  of  the  stomach  dependent  on 
the  flavor  of  food,  as  elsewhere  shown.  Let  any  one 
try  the  experiment  of  cooking  meats,  fish,  potatoes, 
carrots,  turnips,  or  any  other  food,  animal  or  vegetable, 
in  a  steamer  in  which  the  flavor  and  all  the  steam  are 
distilled  back  and  saved,  and  compare  the  taste  of  them 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


19 


with  that  of  the  same  food  cooked  so  that  all  these  e'  j- 
ments  are  lost,  and  he  will  be  astonished  at  the  differ- 
ence in  flavor,  digestibility,  and  mental  and  physical 
energy  imparted  by  it. 

Other  articles  of  food  may  be  wholesome  to  the 
laborino;  man,  that  are  not  wholesome  to  the  thinking 
man.  Cheese,  for  example,  is  very  strengthening  to 
bones  and  muscles,  containing  not  only  the  concentrated 
nitrates  of  the  milk,  but  also  a  large  share  of  its  phos- 
phates ;  but  the  phosphates  are  mostly  insoluble,  the  sol- 
uble phosphates  having  gone  off  in  the  whey.  Cheese, 
^  therefore,  while  it  may  be  excellent  food  for  the  laboring 
man,  and  for  children  whose  bones  are  feeble,  is  too 
indigestible,  and  contains  too  little  food  for  the  brain, 
to  be  very  valuable  to  the  sedentary  thinking  man, 
especially  as  it  tends  to  constipation,  containing  as  it 
does  almost  no  waste  material.  But  with  this  excep- 
tion, all  articles  of  common  food,  cooked  so  as  to  retain 
their  natural  elements,  are  useful  to  thinking  men  in 
proportion  to  the  phosphates  indicated  in  the  tables, 
containing,  as  they  all  do  in  their  natural  condition, 
soluble  as  well  as  insoluble  phosphorus. 

Of  the  amount  of  soluble  phosphorus  in  anfmal  food, 
we  can  judge,  as  I  have  before  mentioned,  without  an 
analysis,  by  the  degree  of  activity  of  the  animal,  as 
only  soluble  phosphorus  gives  either  activity  of  brain  or 
muscle  ;  but  of  the  soluble  phosphorus  in  vegetable  food 
we  have  to  judge  by  a  different  estimate.  The  phos- 
phates of  succulent  vegetables  and  fruits,  when  nourish- 
ment is  mostly  in  their  juices,  are  of  course  mostly 


20 


FOOD  FOR  THINKING  MEN. 


soluble,  and  as  their  solid  material  is  mostly  woody 
fibre,  and  indigestible,  they  also  furnish  waste,  which  is 
very  important  to  sedentary  men,  inclined  as  they  are 
to  constipation.  They  also  contain  the  acids  which  are 
needed  every  day,  especially  in  sedentary  men,  the 
action  of  whose  liver  is  sluggish,  to  eliurnate  effete 
matters,  which,  if  retained  in  the  system,  produce 
inaction  of  the  brain,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  system, 
causing  jaundice,  sleepiness,  scurvy,  and  troublesome 
diseases  of  the  skiri.  Acid  fruits  and  succulent  vegeta- 
bles are  needed  therefore  every  day  of  the  year,  especially 
in  summer,  and  in  winter  by  those  who  live  in  warm 
rooms,  without  much  exercise ;  and  the  amount  of  re- 
freshing nourishment  in  them  is  much  greater  than 
would  at  first  appear  by  the  tables  of  analysis.  As  they 
contain  from  seventy-five  to  ninety-seven  per  cent,  of 
water,  and  only  from  three  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
solid  matter,  the  per  cent,  of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic 
nourishment  is  greater  than  in  more  solid  food  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  water. 

For  example  :  In  wheat  there  is  eighty-six  per  cent, 
of  solid  matter,  of  which  fifteen  per  cent,  is  nitrogenous 
and  about  two  per  cent,  is  phosphatic.  In  apples  there 
IS  but  sixteen  per  cent,  of  solid  matter,  of  which  five  per 
cent,  is  nitrogenous  and  one  per  cent,  is  phosphatic,  so 
that  in  apples  there  is  nearly  twice  the  food  for  muscles  ; 
and,  considering  that  in  wheat  the  phosphates  are  partly 
insoluble,  there  is  more  than  four  times  the  food  for  the 
brain  in  apples  than  in  wheat.  And  this  estimate  is  not 
unfair,  because  there  is  as  much  water  used  in  the  diges- 


FOOD  FOK  THINKING  MEN. 


21 


tion  of  wheat  as  in  that  of  apples,  all  that  is  needed  in 
the  wheat  being  demanded  and  taken  as  drink.  In 
other  fruits  and  vegetables  the  proportionate  amount 
of  nitrates  and  phosphates  is  still  greater,  and  it  can 
readily  be  understood  why,  in  warm  weather,  when  car- 
bonaceous food  is  not  much  needed,  fruits  and  vegeta- 
bles are  so  plentifully  provided,  and  why  they  furnish 
such  healthful  action  of  the  system  and  such  vigor  of 
mind. 


22  FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 

That  muscular  power  and  activity  is  greater  under 
the  use  of  some  kinds  of  food  than  others  has  been 
known  and  recorded  for  more  than  two  thousand  years. 
Before  the  Christian  era  the  gladiators  were  so  con- 
stantly trained  on  barley  bread  that  they  were  called 
hordearii^  hordeum  being  the  Greek  name  for  barley. 
And  if  we  look  at  the  analysis  of  barley  (Philosophy 
of  Eating,  page  121),  we  shall  see  that  it  con- 
tains more  nitrogenous,  as  well  as  more  phosphatic 
elements,  than  wheat,  or  any  other  grain  adapted  to 
bread-making.  Prize-fighters  and  professional  pedes- 
trians prepare  themselves  and  sustain  their  extraordi- 
nary powers  of  action  and  endurance  on  the  muscles 
of  the  ox  or  sheep  and  on  unbolted  bread.  Horses, 
also,  are  trained  for  the  race  on  food  containing  a  large 
proportion  of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  elements,  as 
oats,  barley,  the  bran  of  wheat*  or  Southern  corn  — 
never  on  Northern  corn  or  fine  wheat  flour,  which  tend 
to  fatness,  but  not  to  strength  and  activity.  Indeed, 
the  experience  of  practical  men  the  world  over  cor- 
roborates the  important  truths  developed  by  analyses  of 
different  articles  of  food,  and  the  scientific  inferences 
deduced  from  them  ;  and  the  tables  found  in  Philosophy 
of  Eating,  pages  121-125,  are  therefore  confidently 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


23 


referred  to,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  laboring  men 
to  determine  what  kind  of  food  will  give  most  muscular 
strength,  and  what,  in  the  common  way  of  living,  is  lost. 

It  will  be  seen  that  most  of  the  kinds  of  natura? 
food,  as  the  meats  of  our  domestic  animals,  fat  an^ 
lean  together,  with  unbolted  wheat,  potatoes,  vegeta- 
bles, milk,  corn,  rye,  barley,  &c.,  contain  a  due  pro- 
portion of  food  for  the  muscles,  nerves,  and  for  animal 
heat,  without  the  addition  of  such  heating  materials  as 
fine  flour,  bread,  butter,  fat  pork,  or  lard.  And  as 
neither  of  these  last-named  articles  contain  any,  or  but 
little  of  any,  strength  or  life-giving  elements,  it  fol* 
lows,  that,  used  with  the  food  containing  the  natural 
mixture  and  proportions  of  all  the  elements  required, 
these  heating  elements,  not  being  wanted,  are  either 
thrown  off  and  yv^asted,  or,  by  increasing  the  amount 
of  heat  and  by  embarrassing  the  system,  tend  to  pro- 
duce inflammations  and  disease.  But  it  will  also  be 
seen  that  other  valuable  articles,  as  beans  and  peas, 
and  many  fruits  and  vegetables,  not  containing  enough 
of  these  carbonaceous  materials,  do  require  with  them, 
or  at  the  same  meal,  some  butter,  or  other  fat,  or 
starch,  or  sugar,  to  give  them  the  requisite  heating 
power,  especially  in  cold  weather.  A  little  attention 
to  these  tables,  and  the  principles  upon  which  they 
are  made,  would  be  of  great  service,  not  only  for  the 
preservation  of  health  and  strength,  but  for  economy. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  kinds  of  food  most  wasted, 
because  eaten  when  not  wanted  by  the  system,  are  the 
most  expensive.     The  article  most  used  when  not 


24 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


wanted,  in  Boston,  is  superfine  flour,  out  of  which 
has  been  bolted  a  large  portion  of  its  nitrates  and 
phosphates.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  25 
and  26.)  This  being  used  with  butter  and  sugar, 
furnishes  very  little  but  heating  materials.  The  next 
article  on  which  most  money  is  expended  and  wasted, 
because  most  used  with  other  articles  containing  enough 
of  carbonaceous  elements,  is  butter,  which  contains  not 
a  particle  of  strength  or  life-giving  material,  and  there- 
fore is  never  useful,  except  with  food  deficient  in  carbon. 

And  another  article  most  extensively  used,  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  wasted,  is  sugar,  which,  though 
useful  with  too  acid  fruits,  and  as  a  part  of  a  meal  in 
which  is  too  large  a  proportion  of  nitrogenous  food, 
is  worse  than  useless  in  confectionery,  cakes,  c&c, 
especially  if  eaten  between  meals,  and  when  food  is 
not  wanted,  as  it  not  only  adds  to  the  superfluous  heat, 
but  causes  fermentation  in  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
and  causes,  or  tends  to  cause,  flatulence,  colic,  dys- 
pepsia, and  the  thousand  and  one  troubles  of  the 
digestive  organs,  which  we  are  apt  to  impute  to  green 
vegetables  and  fruit,  when  the  fact  is,  these  extra  car- 
bonaceous substances,  in  their  passage  out  of  the  sys- 
tem, embarrass  the  digestion  of  natural  food,  and  cause 
it  to  give  us  these  troubles ;  and  this  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  those  who  avoid  these  expensive  and  useless 
articles  may  eat  as  much  as  they  choose  of  green 
vegetables  and  fruits,  and  it  gives  them  no  flatulence, 
and  produces  no  irritation. 

Our  puritanic  forefathers,  who  lived  on  beans,  peas, 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


25 


unbolted  grains,  and  the  meats,  vegetables,  and  fruits 
as  they  came  from  their  fields  and  gardens,  cooked  in 
the  simple  manner  best  calculated  to  develop  their 
natural  flavor  and  prepare  them  for  digestion,  were 
not  troubled  with  flatulence,  colic,  indigestion,  &c. 
And  our  foremothers  were  not  the  pale-faced,  flabby- 
muscled,  toothless,  chlorotic,  consumptive,  and  senti- 
mental race,  as  are  their  degenerate  daughters  of 
the  present  generation.  Having  plenty  of  nitrogen 
for  the  muscles,  lime  and  silex  for  the  teeth,  iron  for 
the  blood,  and  all  strength-giving  articles  of  food  for 
the  lungs  and  digestive  organs,  and  phosphorus  for 
the  brain,  in  natural  food  as  God  had  furnished 
it,  and  their  systems  not  being  heated  up  and  em- 
barras'sed  by  the  extra  carbonaceous  food  furnished 
in  superfine  flour,  butter,  and  sugar,  on  which  our 
daughters  try,  but  fail,  to  live,  they  had  all  the  ele- 
ments necessary  to  promote  the  vigorous  health  of 
every  organ  and  faculty,  and  none  of  the  extra  carbon 
which  heats  up  the  system,  embarrasses  the  digestive 
organs,  and  renders  us  more  liable  to  disease  and  less 
able  to  resist  it. 

Even  our  farmers,  and  their  wives  and  daughters, 
have  become  terribly  degenerated.  Instead  of  the 
robust  and  healthy  men,  and  the  full-chested,  healthy, 
rosy-cheeked,  beautiful  women,  of  former  generations, 
we  see  a  people  almost  as  feeble  and  sickly  as  city 
people.  And  the  reason  is  apparent.  The  outer  crust 
of  the  wheat,  and  the  buttermilk,  which  contain  the 
nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  iron  on  which  strength  and 


26 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


energy,  mental  and  physical,  and  beauty  of  complexion, 
depend,  is  given  to  the  cattle  and  pigs,  while  they  take 
themselves,  instead,  the  butter,  fine  flour  and  sugar, 
vrhich  contain  only  the  heating  and  disease-producing 
carbonates. 

The  robust  Irishmen  and  Scotchmen,  also,  who  come 
here  with  strong,  energetic  muscles,  and  sound  teeth, 
from  their  oatmeal,  wheat,  and  barley  cakes,  with  their 
potatoes,  buttermilk,  and  cheese,  soon  fall  into  our 
starch  and  grease  eating  habits,  and  become,  or  at 
least  their  children  become,  as  pale,  puny,  and  tooth- 
less as  pure-blooded  Yankees.  Indeed,  bringing  with 
them,  as  they  do,  especially  the  laboring  Irish,  their 
clannish  and  unclean  habits,  and  therefore  breathing 
air  impregnated  with  impurities,  they  suffer  much 
more  and  die  much  faster  than  Yankees,  whose  hab- 
its of  life,  in  this  respect,  are  better.  (See  state- 
ments and  statistics,  in  another  chapter,  relating  to 
length  of  life,  &c.^ 

Articles  of  Food  best  adapted  to  impart  Ifluscular 
Power, 

Cheese. 

By  the  tables  of  analysis,  so  often  referred  to,  it 
will  be  seen  that  cheese  contains  more  elements  of 
strength  to  the  muscles  and  bones  than  any  other 
article  in  common  use  in  this  country  or  in  England. 
It  contains  from  sixty  to  seventy  per  cent,  of  nitroge- 
nous matter,  and  seven  per  cent,  of  phosphatic,  to 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


27 


only  nineteen  of  carbonaceous ;  and  the  phosphates 
being  of  the  insoluble  or  bone-making  class,  it  imparts 
strength  to  the  bones  and  working  power,  in  a  more 
concentrated  form  than  any  other  known  article  of 
food ;  and,  being  hard  of  digestion,  it  has  also  the 
good  quality  of  staying  by,  or  holding  on,  or,  as  the 
farmers  say  of  salt  beef  and  beans,  "it  is  a  good  prop 
to  lean  over  when  at  work."  But  it  is  not  natural 
food,  being  only  a  part  of  the  natural  food,  milk.  It 
therefore  needs  additional  elements  to  .  make  it  whole- 
some for  a  single  meal.  By  a  calculation  made  else- 
where, it  will  be  seen  that  to  eat  three  times  a  day  we 
should  require,  at  one  meal,  less  than  two  ounces  of  food 
for  the  muscles.  And  we  find  that  two  ounces  would 
be  contained  in  three  ounces  of  cheese,  whereas,  to 
produce  the  natural  distention,  nearly  eight  times  as 
much  bulk  of  food  is  required;  and,  therefore,  on  a 
meal  of  cheese  sufficient  to  supply  muscular  power,  the 
stomach  would  collapse  into  a  condition  in  which  the 
gastric  juice  could  not  be  properly  produced,  and  the 
digestive  process  could  not  go  on.  Then,  again,  in 
three  ounces  of  cheese  only  one  ounce  of  carbonaceous 
food  would  be  produced,  whereas  there  should  be  at 
least  twelve  ounces,  to  give  its  natural  proportions. 
Then,  again,  in  cheese  there  is  almost  no  waste,  and 
therefore  cheese  alone  would  produce  fatal  constipation 
in  a  very  short  time.  Cheese,  therefore,  to  be  whole- 
some, must  be  eaten  in  small  quantities,  and,  to  get 
appropriate  carbonaceous  food,  must  be  eaten  with 
bread;  and  for  this  purpose  white  bread  would  not 


28 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


be  objectionable,  if  it  contained  the  requisite  waste. 
If,  therefore,  we  ate  three  ounces  of  cheese  and  three 
fourths  of  a  pound  of  wheat  bread,  we  should  get. 
nearly  half  the  nitrates  and  carbonates  needed  for 
twenty-four  hours,  and  in  about  the  right  proportions. 
But  still  we  should  get  no  waste,  and  only  a  part  of  the 
phosphatic  elements  needed ;  but  with  the  addition  of 
apples,  or  other  fruits,  or  coarse  bread,  to  supply  the 
deficient  elements,  cheese  would  be  excellent  and  cheap 
food  for  the  laboring  man. 

Southern,  Corn. 

Next  to  cheese,  the  long,  tooth-shaped  Southern 
corn,  such  as  is  delineated  in  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
page  25,  figure  3,  contains  most  nitrogen  and  phos- 
phorus, compa;:ed  with  its  carbon ;  and  its  phosphates 
being  partly  soluble,  and  its  nitrogen  in  the  form  of 
albumen  and  gluten  instead  of  casein,  it  is  more  easily 
digested,  and  it  imparts  more  vigor  and  activity  than 
cheese,  and  is  therefore  better  adapted  to  work  requir- 
ing rapidity  of  motion,  but  less  continuous  action  than 
that  to  which  cheese  is  adapted.  It  requires  some 
addition  of  carbon,  having  but  one  part  of  nitrogenous 
to  three  of  carbonaceous  elements,  whereas  there  i? 
need  of  one  to  four  in  warm  weather,  and  one  to  five 
in  cold.  It  is,  therefore,  appropriately  eaten  with  mo- 
lasses, or  meats,  fat  and  lean ;  and  even  the  negro  diet 
of  "hog  and  hominy"  is  not  a  bad  one,  especially  in 
cool  weather. 


FOOD  FOE  LABCRING  MEN. 


29 


Beans  and  Peas. 

Next  come  beans  and  peas,  which,  being  very 
nearly  alike  in  their  proportions  of  necessary  elements, 
will  be  considered  together.  They  also  contain  too 
large  a  proportion  of  muscle-making  principles,  having 
twenty-four  per  cent,  of  nitrates  to  seventy  of  carbo- 
nates, and  three  to  four  per  cent,  of  phosphates,  partly 
soluble  and  partly  insoluble,  so  that  if  we  retain  the 
liquor  in  which  they  are  cooked,  as  in  bean  porridge  or 
pea  soup,  they  are  good  articles  not  only  for  labor- 
ing fiien  but  for  thinking  men,  if  they  have  good  diges- 
tive powers.  These  also  require  additional  carbon,  and 
are  appropriately  eaten  with  butter,  or  fat  pork  and 
potatoes,  with  more  of  the  vegetable  carbonates  in  sum- 
mer and  of  the  animal  in  winter. 

Lean  Flesh  of  Meats. 

Lean  meats,  or  muscles  of  animals,  contain  about  the 
same  proportion  of  nitrates  and  phosphates  as  beans  and 
peas,  but  they  contain  no  carbonates  at  all,  or  at  least 
the  gelatine  in  them,  which  is  carbonaceous,  is  not  di- 
gestible, but  is  used  as  waste,  to  keep  the  bowels  in 
action,  gelatine  in  meats  answering  the  same  purpose 
as  woody  fibre  answers  in  vegetable  food.  It  is  gelatine 
which  gives  consistence  to  soups,  especially  those  made 
of  joints  of  meat,  and  many  people  are  deceived  by  the 
idea  that  the  more  gelatinous  the  more  nourishing  the 


30 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


soup ;  but  nourishment  comes  from  other  elements 
Still,  to  old  people,  and  sedentary  people  who  are  in 
clined  to  costiveness,  they  are  wholesome  and  valuable, 
and  the  gelatine  performs  an  important  office  in  the  pro- 
motion of  health. 

The  lean  of  beef  contains  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
food  for  muscles,  seventy-five  per  cent,  being  water 
and  waste.  It  is,  if  tender,  very  easily  digested  while 
fresh,  and  hard-working  men  prefer  that  which  has 
been  salted,  as  it  "  stays  by "  better ;  and  as  all  the 
insoluble  phosphates  and  all  the  fibrine  is  retained,  it  is 
good  food  for  them,  although  the  soluble  phosphates 
and  the  albumen  are  lost  in  the  brine.  Lean  meat  can 
never,  of  course,  be  eaten  alone,  not  having  in  it  the 
necessary  carbon  to  keep  up  steam  to  run  the  machine, 
but  requires  either  fat  or  starch  to  supply  the  lungs 
w^ith  fuel,  more  or  less  according  to  temperature,  &c., 
fat  being  best  adapted  to  supply  its  carbonates  in  win- 
ter and  starch  in  summer ;  and  if  fruits  are  eaten  with 
meat,  sugar  also  may  be  eaten  without  injury.  Sugar 
seems  to  accord  with  vegetable  diet  rather  than  ani- 
mal. There  seems,  however,  to  be  required,  to  keep 
the  system  in  good  order,  some  variety,  containing 
some  fat,  some  starch,  and  some  sugar ;  but  it  is 
always  better  to  get  these  pryiciples  combined  with 
food  in  Nature's  own  way,  rather  than  in  the  concen- 
trated form  in  which  we  find  them  in  lard,  butter,  fine 
flour,  and  sugar ;  and  the  more  nearly  we  conform  to 
Nature's  arrangements  in  this  respect,  as  in  all  others, 
the  better  every  way. 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


31 


Fish. 

The  only  other  article  of  food  in  common  use,  in 
which  the  nitrates  and  phosphates  are  in  excess  of  the 
carbonates,  are  the  common  varieties  of  fish  in  our 
climate.  The  only  available  carbon  in  fish  is  in  the  fat, 
of  which,  in  most  species,  indeed  in  all  species  used 
as  food  in  this  country  or  England,  there  is  but  little, 
the  gelatine,  of  which  in  many  species  there  is  a  large 
proportion,  being  used  for  the  same  purpose  as  gelatine 
in  red  meat.  It  is  carbonaceous,  but  not  digestible, 
but  serves  the  valuable  purpose  of  keeping  the  bowels 
in  order.  The  carbonates  necessary  to  keep  up  the 
steam  must,  in  a  fish  diet,  be  furnished  either  in  butter, 
the  fat  of  other  animals,  or  in  the  starch  of  vegeta- 
bles and  grains,  of  which,  perhaps,  the  potato  furnishes 
the  most  valuable  supply.  Fish  is  more  easily  digested 
than  red  meat,  but  it  gives  less  muscular  power.  It  is 
not,  therefore,  satisfactory  to  those  whose  labor  consists 
in  lifting  or  steady  muscular  exertion;  but,  having  a 
larger  share  of  phosphates,  it  gives  activity  of  muscle, 
especially  the  flesh  of  such  fish  as  are  themselves  active, 
and  may  be  adapted  therefore  to  those  whose  labor  re- 
quires great  activity  of  muscle,  and  it  is  certainly  good 
diet  for  work  which  requires  study  and  judgment.  (For 
an  explanation  of  the  principle  that  flesh  of  active  ani- 
mals develops  activity,  see  Phil.  Eat.,  page  84.)  To 
enable  us  to  judge  of  the  amount  and  proportions  of 
carbonaceous  and  nitrogenous  elements  necessary,  I 


32 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


would  refer  to  some  practical  experiments  collated- 
(See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  98-113.) 

The  English  government  has  for  many  years  care- 
fully experimented  on  food  for  soldiers,  and  it  is  found 
that  to  keep  them  in  good  fighting  trim,  five  ounces  of 
nitrogenous  and  twenty  ounces  of  carbonaceous  food 
are  required  daily,  and  while  in  active  service  their 
rations  always  contain  this  amount  of  nourishment. 
The  Dutch  soldier  has  twenty-one  ounces  carbonates 
and  five  ounces  nitrates  while  fighting,  or  preparing  to 
fight;  but  in  garrison,  twenty  ounces  carbonates  and 
three  and  one  half  ounces  nitrates. 

But  our  American  commissaries  seem  not  to  have 
given  sufficient  attention  to  the  subject,  even  to 
learn  the  difference  between  fat  pork  and  lean  beef. 
Accordingly,  at  one  time  our  soldiers  were  obliged  to 
march  a  whole  day  on  twelve  ounces  of  fat  pork,  which 
contains  not  a  particle  of  food  for  muscles,  and  hard 
tack,  which,  being  made  of  flour  out  of  which  is  bolted 
a  large  part  of  its  nitrates,  could  not  in  all  that  could 
be  eaten  contain  one  quarter  of  the  nitrates  necessary ; 
while  at  another  time  the  rations  might  consist  of  lean 
beef,  which  has  in  it  little  else  than  muscle-making 
food. 

By  all  the  facts  that  can  be  gathered  from  bills  of 
fare  of  soldiers,  sailors,  prisoners,  and  other  working 
men  whose  diet  is  accurately  observed,  it  is  ascertained 
that  at  the  average  temperature  in  which'  men  work, 

and  with  the  ^^  erage  activity,  five  omices  of  nitrates  and 
twenty-one  ounces  of  carbonates  are  required;  and  in 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


33 


the  staple  articles  of  natural  food,  such  as  the  meats,  fat 
and  lean  together,  and  bread  from  unbolted  grain,  milk, 
eggs,  &c.,  these  necessary  principles  are  found  mixed 
in  about  the  right  proportions ;  and  in  eating  them  the 
appetite  will  be  satisfied  with  the  amount  of  food  neces- 
sary to  furnish  these  twenty-six  ounces ;  but  if  he  has 
set  before  him  unnatural  food,  that  is,  food  from  which 
has  been  taken  some  of  its  principles,  as  butter,  cheese, 
or  beefsteak,  fine  flour,  or  sugar,  his  appetite  will  not 
direct  him.  as  to  quantity.  For  example:  He  may 
eat  of  white  bread  and  butter  all  the  stomach  will  con- 
tain, and  not  be  satisfied,  because  nature  demands  and 
the  appetite  craves  more  nutriment  for  the  muscles  and 
brain ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  he  may  eat  of  cheese,  or 
beefsteak  alone,  twice  as  much  as  is  needed  for  the 
muscles,  while  there  is  still  a  demand  for  carbon,  which 
will  not  be  satisfied  till  bread,  or  potatoes,  or  some  other 
carbonaceous  food  is  supplied.  In  either  case  he  will 
eat  too  much ;  but  if  he  have  before  him  a  variety  of 
natural  food,  such  as  meats  or  grains  or  fish,  and  vege- 
tables and  fruits,  he  may  indulge  his  appetite,  espe- 
cially in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
without  harm.  Eating  too  much,  then,  comes  of 
eating  unnatural  food.  Why  should  not  other  ani- 
mals, who  have  unrestrained  access  to  their  natural 
food,  eat  too  much? 

But  how  shall  we  guard  against  eating  too  much, 
while  indulging  in  food  not  all  in  its  natural  condition  ? 
We  have  seen  that  some  articles  of  food  in  common 
use,  both  in  its  natural  and  unnatural  condition,  con- 
3 


34 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


tain  too  much  of  the  carbonaceous  and  some  too  much 
of  the  nitrogenous  elements,  and  we  have  seen  by  the 
tables  of  analysis,  so  often  referred  to,  that  it  is  easy  to 
learn  which  articles  contain  the  right  proportions,  and 
which  contain  an  excess  of  either  principle,  and  bear- 
ing in  mind  the  proportions  of  each  principle  consumed, 
it  is  easy  to  adjust  a  dinner  so  as  to  supply  the  princi- 
ples in  right  proportions. 

If  the  meal  consists  of  meats  of  average  fatness,  — 
more  or  less  fat  according  to  the  temperature  of  the 
weather,  —  cooked  by  itself,  and  its  juices  saved,  un- 
bolted wheat  bread,  potatoes  and  other  vegetables,  with 
milk,  and  plain  puddings  from  any  grain  in  its  natural 
state,  and  any  good  ripe  fruits,  we  might  eat  as  much 
as  we  desired  of  any  or  all  the  articles  before  us,  with- 
out varying  essentially  the  proportions  of  nitrates  and 
carbonates,  and  without  eating  too  much;  or,  if  we 
have  articles  too  nitrogenous  —  as  beefsteak,  or  cheese, 
or  beans,  or  peas  —  for  dinner,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
use  with  them  articles  like  butter,  fat  meats,  and  starch 
or  sugar,  and  vegetables,  to  supply  the  deficiency. 

The  difficulty  is,  that  not  knowing  the  constituents  of 
food,  we  use  together  articles  which  are  deficient  in  the 
same  elements,  as  white  bread  and  butter,  pork  and 
hard  tack,  sugar,  butter,  and  flour,  as  in  cake  and 
pastry,  &c.  To  remedy  this  evil,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  refer  to  the  tables  of  analysis.  (See  Philosophy 
of  Eating,  pages  121-126.)  Assistance  may  also  be 
obtained  from  the  following  table,  which  shows  what 
quantity  of  articles  of  food  in  common  use  is  required 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


35 


to  get  the  five  ounces  of  nitrates  needed  daily,  and 
how  much  of  carbonaceous  food  is  had  at  the  same 
time. 


To  get  the  requisite  five  ounces  of  nitrates  requires,  of 


Lbs.  Oz. 

Oz. 

Oz. 

STTm  Ct. 

Pr.  ct. 

Total. 

Nltr. 

Carb. 

Waste. 

Water. 

Cheese, 

.  0 

8 

5  ^ 

3 

0 

0 

Southern  corn, 

.  1 

2 

5 

H 

8 

14 

Beans,  . 

.  1 

8 

5 

17 

15 

Peas,     .  . 

.  1 

9 

5 

101 

19 

14 

Barley, 

.  2 

5 

5 

22 

16 

14 

Wheat,      .  • 

.  2 

7 

5 

21 

14 

Oats, 

.  2 

0 

5 

19 

15 

13 

Northern  corn, 

.  2 

9 

5 

24 

5 

14 

Eye,     .    .  . 

.  2 

8 

5 

23 

15 

13 

Eice,     •  . 

.  5 

0 

5 

50 

4 

13J 

Buckwheat, 

.  4 

0 

5 

35 

3 

14 

Potatoes,    .  . 

.  15 

0 

5 

51 

3 

75 

Sweet  potato, 

.  20 

0 

5 

65 

H 

67 

Carrots,      •  . 

.  50 

0 

5 

51 

87 

Cabbage,  . 

.  10 

0 

5 

2 

4 

90 

Turnips,  . 

.  28 

0 

5 

2 

4 

90 

Parsnips,  . 

.  25 

0 

5 

25 

9 

82 

Apples,  &c.,  . 

.    5  to  10 

5 

5  to  10  5 

86 

Milk,    .    .  . 

.  6 

0 

5 

20 

4 

86 

Beef,    .    •  . 

.  4 

0 

5 

45 

5 

44 

Mutton,     .  . 

.  4 

0 

5 

64 

4 

44 

Lamb,  .    .  • 

.  4 

0 

5 

35 

H 

50 

Veal,    .    .  • 

.  4 

0 

5 

28 

62 

36  FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


Lbs.  Oz. 

Oz. 

Oz. 

Pr.  ct. 

Pr.  ct. 

Total. 

Nitr. 

Carb. 

Waste, 

JLUlii.)       •        «        •  • 

5  8 

5 

110 

2 

38 

1  4 

5 

0 

7 

70 

JLi"clIl  lllUlLvJlij  • 

1  4 

5 

0 

2 

70 

1  iPCJ  n  "xzPfi  1 
JLiCctii   VCdlj           •  • 

1  4 

5 

0 

6 

75 

TiPan  TinTK 

1  5 

5 

10 

3 

60 

1  4 

5 

0 

10 

75 

X>uLlcI  9          •       •  • 

0 

all 

0 

0 

Lard,    .    .    •  • 

0 

0 

0 

Fat  of  all  meats, 

0 

66 

0 

0 

Starch,     .    .  . 

0 

6 '6 

0 

75 

Sugar,      .    •  . 

0 

66 

0 

75 

Why  is  a  Variety  of  Food  necessary? 

Besides  the  three  staple  principles  for  the  supply  of 
muscles,  and  animal  heat,  and  the  brain  and  nerves, 
included  under  the  terms  Nitrates,  Carbonates,  and 
Phosphates,  other  principles  are  needed  and  other  con- 
ditions required  to  keep  the  digestive  organs  in  perfect 
condition  and  the  system  in  perfect  working  order. 

1.  We  need  food  in  amount  or  bulk  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce a  proper  degree  of  distention,  else  the  digestive  pro- 
cess cannot  go  on  properly.  The  vegetarian  eats  on  an 
average,  perhaps,  six  pounds  in  a  day,  while  of  mixed 
food,  of  meat,  unbolted  bread,  and  vegetables,  and  fruits, 
the  average  may  be  four  pounds.  If,  then,  we  should 
undertake  to  live  on  cheese  alone,  the  stomach  would  col- 
lapse into  one  eighth  of  its  natural  size,  and  could  not 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


37 


secrete  the  necessary  juices,  or  digest  at  all.  With 
cheese,  then,  we  must  have  vegetables  or  fruits,  or 
other  less  concentrated  food,  for  the  purpose  of  disten- 
tion ;  and  the  same  remark  applies  to  meats,  beans, 
peas,  &c.,  but  to  a  less  extent. 

2.  We  must  have  also  waste,  which  is  the  natural 
stimulant  to  produce  the  healthy  action  of  all  the  diges- 
tive organs.  If,  then,  we  ate  only  cheese,  or  white 
bread  and  butter,  or  confectionery,  or  pastry,  we  should 
soon  die  of  constipation. 

3.  The  acids  and  juices  provided  in  fruits  and  succu- 
lent vegetables  are  needed  also  every  day,  but  more  in 
warm  weather  than  in  cold,  to  eliminate  from  the  sys- 
tem effete  matter ;  and  all  nations,  civilized  or  savage, 
make  use  of  them  :  and  if  they  are  not  had,  the  liver 
becomes  engorged,  the  brain  and  the  whole  system  be- 
comes inactive,  and,  after  a  while,  the  skin  breaks  out 
in  sores,  and  that  degenerate  condition  or  disease  super- 
venes which  is  denominated  scurvy,  to  which  soldiers 
and  sailors  who  are  deprived  of  them  are  subject,  and 
of  which  so  many  are  known  to  die.  (See  Philosophy 
of  Eating,  pages  262-265.) 

4.  Food,  to  be  well  digested  and  assimilated,  must 
be  adapted  to  the  taste  of  each  individual ;  and  a  din- 
ner made  up  of  the  necessary  elements,  but  of  articles 
against  which  we  have  an  antipathy,  or  so  cooked  as  to 
offend  the  taste,  will  not  be  digested  at  all,  but  will  be 
rejected  by  the  stomach,  even  while  the  system  requires 
nourishment.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  213- 
218,306-311.) 


gg  FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 

With  these  considerations  in  mind,  let  us  examine 
the  foregoing  table  with  a  view  to  a  more  practxcal 
application  to  the  everyday  wants  of  the  labormg 
man. 

What  Comhination  of  Food  will  meet  the  daily  Require- 
ments of  the  Lahoring  Man? 

The  daily  reqmrements  are  five  ounces  of  solid  nitrates 
for  the  muscles,  twenty  to  twenty-two  ounces  of  carbo- 
nates  for  animal  heat,  two  or  three  per  cent,  of  phos- 
phates for  bones  and  for  nervous  power,  with  waste  and 
water  to  give  it  bulk,  and  acids  to  eliminate  effete  mal^ 
ter  from  the  blood  through  the  liver;  and  this  food 
must  be  so  prepared  and  cooked  as  to  be  eaten  with  a 
relish,  and  not  be  too  easily  digested. 

By  the  foregoing  table  we  see  where  we  can  get  the 
five  ounces  of  nitrogenous  food,  which  is  the  first  daily 
requisite  for  the  laboring  man,  and  we  see  that  m  the 
articles  of  food  which  come  unchanged  from  Isature  s 
storehouse,  we  have  at  the  same  time  a  part  of  all  the 
other  requisites,  some  containing  too  many  for  the  ordi- 
nary demands  of  the  system,  and  some  not  sufficient, 
making  a  variety  of  food  necessary ;  and  we  have  seen 
also  that  the  natural  appetite  and  taste  directs  to  the 
use  of  such  articles  of  natural  food  at  the  same  meal 
as  will  supply  all  the  demands  of  the  system. 

If  then,  we  had  before  us  every  variety  of  natural 
food',  and  nothing  else,  we  might  follow  our  inclinations 
to  the  fullest  extent  of  our  capacity  without  suffermg 


FOOD  ±OIl  LABOKING  MEN. 


39 


evil  consequences ;  but  perverted  as  are  our  tastes  and 
appetites  by  tl^e  constant  use  of  butter,  sugar,  starch, 
and  lard,  v^hich  are  separated  from  their  food  for  mus- 
cles, nerves,  and  brains,  our  appetites  and  tastes  are 
not  a  true  guide,  and  we  form  a  habit  of  taking  too 
much  carbonaceous  food,  with  consequences  such  as  are 
elsewhere  described. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  becomes  us  to  put  our 
appetites  under  the  guardianship  of  reason  and  common 
sense.  And  after  all  the  mystery  and  darkness  in 
which,  in  our  ignorance,  we  have  permitted  this  subject 
to  be  enshrouded,  it  is  not  a  complicated  question  in- 
volving great  mental  power  to  comprehend,  or  memory 
to  retain  its  principles.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  very 
simple,  easily  understood,  and  easily  remembered. 

Articles  of  Food  in  common  Use  containing  an  Excess 
of  Mitrogenons  Matter, 

These  are  very  few,  and  may  all  be  embraced  in  the 
following  articles  :  Cheese,,  southern  corn,  beans,  peas, 
lean  meats,  fish,  green  vegetables,  and  fruits  ;  and  these 
require  more  or  less  food  containing  carbon  in  excess, 
as  may  be  seen  by  the  degree  of  deficiency  noted  in  the 
preceding  table ;  and  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  supply  the 
deficiency  with  the  articles  containing  an  excess  of  car- 
bon, as  shown  also  in  the  table  —  only  remembering  that 
we  require  about  twenty  ounces  carbonaceous  food  to 
five  ounces  nitrogenous. 


40 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN. 


Articles  of  Food  in  common  Use  contaltaing  an  Excess 
of  Carbonaceous  Matter. 

These  consist  of  fats  and  oils,  including  butter,  and 
of  starch  and  sugar ;  and  the  articles  of  natural  food 
in  common  use  containing  an  excess  of  either  of  these 
principles  are  rice,  buckwheat,  potatoes,  sweet  pota- 
toes, carrots,  beets,  and  the  meats  of  all  domestic  ani- 
mals, as  they  are  usually  fattened  for  the  market,  and 
some  species  of  fish  used  in  northern  regions.  But  the 
articles  from  which  we  derive  most  of  our  excess  of 
heating  food  are  the  unnatural  articles,  —  butter,  sugar, 
lard,  superfine  flour  (flour  only  containing  anything  but 
heating  food,  and  that  only  a  little) ,  and  in  some  places 
fat  pork. 

With  these  data  before  us,  it  requires  but  little  study 
to  understand  what  articles  of  food  are  to  be  used  at 
the  same  meal,  and  what  combination  of  articles  should 
be  avoided.  It  would  be  folly  to  undertake  to  live  on 
cheese,  or  beans,  or  peas,  or  lean  meat,  or  fish  alone, 
or  all  of  them  combined.  We  should  lose  our  fat,  and 
become  cold  and  die,  for  want  of  natural  warmth  of 
blood.  It  is  equal  folly  to  try  to  live  on  butter,  sugar, 
fine  flour,  or  lard,  or  all  combined,  as  in  pastry,  cake, 
&c.  Animals  submitted  to  the  experiment  of  such  a 
combination  alone,  have  died  in  from  thirty  to  forty 
days ;  and  probably  three  fourths  of  all  the  deaths 
recorded  in  our  bills  of  mortality  are  the  results  of 
over-heated  blood,  and  consequent  inflammations  and 


FOOD  FOR  LABORING  MEN.  il 

diseases  induced  by  the  excess  of  carbonaceous  food 
on  the  organs  and  functions,  rendered  weak,  and  their 
recuperative  power  lost  or  greatly  impaired,  for  want 
of  the  strength-giving  nitrates  and  phosphates  required, 
as  has  been  elsewhere  explained.  (See  Philosophy  of 
Eating,  pages  16,  17.) 

How  few  and  simple,  then,  are  the  requirements 
necessary  so  to  combine  the  principles  of  food  that  are 
within  the  reach  of  all  industrious  families  in  this  coun- 
try at  least,  as  to  insure  at  the  same  time  economy,  the 
pleasures  of  eating,  health,  long  life,  and  usefulness ; 
and  to  all  but  the  most  perverse  and  ungrateful,  cheer- 
fulness, and  domestic  peace  and  happiness  !  I  venture 
the  assertion  that  with  one  quarter  of  the  time,  and 
without  any  of  the  expense  that  is  devoted  to  the  silly 
and  ridiculous  foibles  made  necessary  by  the  demand 
of  fashion,  these  blessings  might  be  secured  to  all  in- 
telligent families ;  and  instead  of  losing,  as  they  now 
do,  one  half  of  their  children  before  they  come  to  matu- 
rity, and  finding  most  of  the  other  half  feeble,  sickly, 
and  worthless,  except,  perhaps,  a  very  few  who  might 
die  from  casualties  and  from  diseases  inherited  from  a 
degenerate  ancestry,  their  sons  would  be  as  plants 
grown  up  in  their  youth,"  and  their  daughters  "as 
corner-stones,  polished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace/* 


42  THE  ECONOMY  OF  LIVING  NATURALLY. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  TAKING  FOOD  IN 
NATURAL  PROPORTIONS. 

By  something  like  a  telegraphic  arrangement  the 
stomach  is  kept  informed  of  the  wants  of  every  organ 
and  function ;  and,  through  the  appetite,  a  demand  is 
made  for  nitrates  for  muscular  strength,  or  carbonates 
for  animal  heat,  or  phosphates  for  bones,  and  nerves, 
and  brain,  until  all  are  supplied.  And  if  we  take 
food  in  its  natural  state,  so  as  to  supply  all  these  de- 
mands at  the  same  time,  the  appetite  is  satisfied  with- 
out waste  material.  For  example,  take  unbolted  wheat 
bread  and  milk,  containing,  as  they  both  do,  a  due 
proportion  of  elements  for  muscle,  animal  heat,  and 
brains.  The  appetite  is  satisfied  when  just  enough 
food  is  taken  to  supply  the  ten  ounces  of  carbonates 
and  two  , and  a  half  ounces  of  nitrates,  for  twelve  hours' 
supply'.  But  suppose  we  take,  instead,  white  flour 
bread  and  butter.  When  we  have  taken  the  ten  ounces 
of  carbonates  which  the  system  requires  for  the  meal, 
we  have  received  less  than  one  quarter  of  the  necessary 
nitrates  and  phosphates,  and  until  these  principles  are 
supplied  the  appetite  demands  more  food ;  and  if  we 
attempt  to  satisfy  these  demands  by  the  same  food, 
we  must  take  four  times  as  much  of  carbonates  as  are 
need^  and  the  surplus,  not  being  wanted,  after  em- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  LIVING  NATURALLY.  43 


barrassing  the  system  for  a  time,  is  finally  thrown  off 
into  the  vault.  And  thus,  by  our  daily  habit  of  using, 
with  articles  already  having  their  natural  proportion  of 
carbonates,  butter,  sugar,  and  fine  flour,  as  we  do  in 
cakes,  pastry,  confectionery,  sweet  sauces,  &c.,  we 
waste  three  quarters  of  all  these  expensive  articles. 

With  less  than  half  the  expense  that  is  thus  wasted 
on  these  articles,  to  say  nothing  of  the  doctor's  bills, 
and  loss  of  time  occasioned  by  inflammatory  diseases, 
we  might  purchase  all  the  choice  fruits,  and  vegetables, 
and  meats  necessary  to  give  us  the  highest  gustatory 
pleasures  of  which  we  are  capable  ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  save  doctor's  bills  and  loss  of  time  fron/ 
sickness.  On  natural  food,  therefore,  judiciously  se- 
lected, a  family  can  be  raised,  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  robust  health,  and  substantial,  enduring  happiness, 
for  less  than  half  the  cost  of  trying  to  keep  alive  our 
feeble,  pale-faced,  sickly  children  on  white  bread  and 
butter,  pies,  cakes,  and  candy. 


44 


THE  PLEASURES  OF  LIVING  NATUSALLY. 


NATUEAL  FOOD  AFFORDS  THE  HIGHEST 
GUSTATORY  ENJOYMENT. 

That  is  certainly  a  beautiful  provision  of  our  heav- 
enly Father,  by  which  perfect  happiness  is  made  to 
consist  in  perfect  obedience  to  his  laws ;  and  this  per- 
tains to  every  department  of  our  nature,  moral  and 
physical.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  real,  unalloyed 
enjoyment  but  in  perfect  obedience  to  moral,  mental,^ 
physiological,  or  physical  law.  It  may  be  true  in 
dietetics,  as  it  is  in  morals,  that  "no  man  liveth  and 
sinneth  noi,"  and  therefore  no  man  enjoys  perfect, 
unalloyed  pleasures  in  eating ;  but  in  the  one  case, 
as  in  the  other,  he  enjoys  most  who  most  nearly  obeys 
the  laws  of  his  nature. 

Every  article  of  natural  food  is  provided  with  its 
own  particular  flavor,  or  osmazome^  which  distin- 
guishes it  from  every  other  article ;  and  this  osmazome 
is  most  perfectly  developed  just  when  it  is  so  prepared 
as  to  be  best  adapted  to  furnish  us  wholesome  nour- 
ishment. Beefsteak  has  its  most  agreeable  flavor  de- 
veloped with  just  the  amount  of  cooking  that  best  fits 
it  for  digestion.  And  this  is  true  of  all  meats  and 
vegetables ;  while  the  peach,  and  other  fruits  which 
need  no  cooking,  have  their  most  agreeable  flavor 
developed  without  cooking,  and,  when  fully  ripe,  the 


THE  PLEASURES  OF  LIVING  NATURALLY.  45 

slio-htest  amount  of  cookiner  diminishes  their  flavor,  as 
any  extra  cooking  or  re-cooking  of  meats  and  vegeta- 
bles diminishes  their  flavor,  and  renders  them  less 
wholesome.  (For  a  full  explanation  of  this  beautiful 
principle,  see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  213-218, 
306,  311.) 

This  principle,  osmazome^  seems  to  be  imparted  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  make  food  agreeable,  and 
give  us  gustatory  pleasure.  And  of  course  our  natu- 
ral tastes  are  made  to  harmonize  with  these  natural 
flavors,  so  as  to  enable  us  to  appreciate  and  enjoy 
them;  and,  until  they  are  perverted,  we  do  enjoy 
them  —  just  as  all  other  pleasures  of  the  senses  afford 
pleasure  unalloyed  till  perverted. 

A  child  who  has  never  tasted  of  pies,  cakes,  candy, 
or  any  other  unnatural  food,  will  much  prefer  wheat 
bread  and  milk,  or  fruit,  to  any  of  them.  This  I  have 
seen  in  a  grandson  four  years  old,  who  had  eaten  noth- 
ing but  milk,  unbolted  meal  bread,  fruits,  and  other 
natural  food,  and  who,  in  a  large  party  of  little  ones, 
all  eating  cakes  and  confectionery,  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  eat  a  thing,  till  he  found  an  apple,  which  he 
recognized  as  natural  food.  The  inference,  then,  that 
butter  and  sugar  must  be  good,  because  children  love 
them,  is  fallacious.  Their  natural  love  is  for  butter 
and  sugar  as  they  are  found  in  milk  and  fruits,  in  their 
natural  combinations  with  other  necessary  elements. 

The  first  time  sugar  or  butter  is  given  to  a  child 
the  sensation  is  such  as  to  produce  a  shudder,  and  the 
little  victim  clearly  indicates  a  disapprobation  of  such 


46 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  PARENTS. 


concentrated  sapidity ;  but  he  so  soon  yields  to  his  fate 
that  parents  come  to  think  his  love  for  these  things  is 
natural.  The  taste  is  generally  tampered  with  in  the  fiist 
hour  of  life,  by  the  sugar  and  water  which  its  thought- 
ful nurse  administers  lest  the  poor  thing  might  starve 
before  Nature  gets  ready  to  provide  for  it;  and  then, 
for  the  hickups  which  this  unnatural  feeding  is  sure  to 
produce,  it  must  have  pure  sugar ;  and  thus  the  taste 
is  perverted  in  the  first  week  of  its  life,  and  then  the 
first  solid  food  that  is  put  into  its  mouth  is,  probably, 
white  bread,  spread,  perhaps,  with  butter. 

No,  no ;  Nature  is  not  so  inconsistent  as  to  give  us 
a  natural  taste  for  unnatural  food.  Nothing,  to  my 
mind,  can  be  clearer  than  that  the  responsibility  of 
the  love  of  concentrated  carbonaceous  food,  which 
undoubtedly  causes,  directly  or  indirectly,  three  fourths 
of  all  the  sickness,  suffering,  and  death  of  our  chil- 
dren, rests  on  parents.  And  yet  how  hard  it  is  to 
convince  them  that  what  their  mothers  did  for  them, 
and  what  they  lived  through,  can  be  wrong. 

In  vain  you  remind  them  of  their  less  hardy  brothers 
and  sisters,  who  have  long  since  been  laid  in  the  grave 
from  inflammations  and  other  diseases  induced  by  heat- 
ing food.  In  vain  you  show  them  the  reasonableness 
of  obeying  Nature's  laws,  and  the  fact  that  animals 
who  do  obey  them  enjoy  health,  and  lose  none  of  their 
offspring.  Their  only  answer  is,  "I  feed  my  child 
as  my  mother  fed  me.  I  did  very  well.  I  guess  the 
little  sugar,  and  cake,  and  white  bread  and  butter 
which  I  give  won't  hurt  them."    But,  I  thank  God, 


RESPONSIBILITY  OP  PARENTS. 


47 


there  are  those  who  have  sense  enough  to  see  the  folly 
of  such  persistence  in  wrong,  and  who,  giving  reason 
and  common  sense  control  over  silly  prejudices,  pursue 
the  right  as  soon  as  they  learn  it.  Such  will  have  the 
happiness  to  see  their  brains  transmitted  to  healthy  and 
useful  children,  while  those  whose  only  rule  is  to  do  as 
their  mothers  did  before  them  will  transmit  a  race  more 
silly,  feeble,  and  degenerate  than  themselves  (for  the 
evil  effects  of  disobedience  accumulate  from  genera- 
tion to  generation),  and  will  see  them  living  a  life 
of  struggle  with  disease  and  suffering,  or  will  prema- 
turely bury  them,  murmuring,  perhaps,  at  the  cruelty 
of  their  fate. 

Suppose  a  mother,  in  ordinary  health,  having  a 
healthy  husband,  should  always  live  on  natural  food, 
or,  at  least,  should  commence,  seven  or  eight  months 
before  her  child  is  born,  and  allow  nothing  to  pass  her 
lips  but  food  containing  all  the  elements  that  nature 
has  furnished  in  it,  and  should  take  no  elements  in 
liquids  but  such  as  Nature  furnishes  in  the  juices  of 
fruits,  vegetables,  milk,  and  pure  water,  and  con- 
tinue that  course,  without  exception,  till  the  child  is 
old  enough  to  be  weaned ;  —  having  all  the  materials 
for  making  a  perfect  child,  just  as  they  are  naturally 
provided,  will  Nature  fail  to  use  these  materials,  so  as 
to  leave  any  organ  or  function  defective?  Having 
lime,  silex,  potash,  and  insoluble  phosphates  for  the 
bones  and  teeth,  with  no  foreign  elements  to  interfere 
with  the  process  of  forming  them,  perfect  teeth  will 
surely  be  formed.     Having  nitrogenous  elements  for 


48 


RESPONSIBILITY  OF  PARENTS. 


muscles  and  solid  tissues,  soluble  phosphates  and  other 
materials  for  the  brain  and  nerves,  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen for  adipose  matter  and  to  furnish  animal  heat, 
and  all  these  elements  and  principles  in  the  combina- 
tions and  proportions  which  she  herself  has  adjusted. 
Nature  cannot  fail  to  furnish  a  child  perfect  in  all  its 
parts  and  functions. 

.  Then,  supposing  it  continues  to  be  furnished  with 
natural  food  and  drinks,  allowing  no  foreign  elements 
to  enter  the  system,  and  conforming  to  other  necessary 
requirements  as  to  pure  air,  cleanliness,  exercise,  com- 
fortable temperature,  protection,  &c.,  when  can  the 
organs  or  functions  begin  to  be  imperfect,  or  to  become 
diseased?  Indeed,  if  he  should  not,  in  all  respects, 
conform  to  laws  of  his  being,  his  constitution,  being 
kept  in  order  by  natural  food,  will  have  recuperative 
power  to  ward  off  or  overcome  the  evil  effects,  and 
health,  nevertheless,  be  continued  or  restored.  Then, 
again,  with  recuperative  powers,  derived  from  con- 
forming to  Nature's  laws,  and  living  on  natural  food, 
diseases  from  external  causes,  as  small-pox,  measles, 
&c.,  could  all  be  controlled,  and  made  harmless. 
Surely,  then,  it  is  a  sin  and  a  shame,  as  well  as  a 
misfortune,  to  have  feeble,  half-developed,  sickly  chil- 
dren ;  and,  instead  of  murmuring  at  the  Providence 
that  removes  them  from  us,  we  should  repent,  in  dust 
and  ashes,  that,  by  our  neglect  of  the  clearly-revealed 
laws  of  Nature,  it  becomes  a  merciful  necessity  to  re- 
move them  from  the  evil  to  come ;  and  if  too  late,  for 
benefit  to  ourselves  and  our  children,  to  do  works  meet 


SOME  LIVE  IN  SPITE  OF  WKONG  HABITS.  49 

for  repentance,  we  should  cease  not  to  teach  the  young 
the  laws  of  life  and  health,  and  "  to  warn  every  one, 
night  and  day,  with  tears,"  to  escape  the  punishment 
which  has  been  inflicted  on  us  for  our  transgressions. 
But  we  shall  meet  a  class  of  cases  harder  to  reach 
than  those  who  have  suffered  the  loss  of  health  and 
the  loss  of  children. 

Those  who  live  and  seem  to  enjoy  Health  in  spite  of 
wrong:  Habits  of  living. 

An  old  toper,  who  has  kept  his  copper  hot  with  whis- 
key or  rum  for  half  a  century,  and  who  has  outlived 
all  his  drinking  companions  by  scores  of  years,  cannot 
see  that  he  lives  because  he  is  too  tough  to  be  killed  by 
that  which  has  killed  all  his  old  toper  friends,  but  very 
likely  thinks  he  should  have  been  dead  long  ago  but  for 
the  preserving  power  of  alcohol. 

An  excellent  old  lady  of  seventy-five  years,  who  had 
taken  green  tea  from  her  youth,  till  by  the  tannin  it 
contained  her  skin  had  been  dried  and  tanned  into  the 
resemblance  of  what  indeed  it  really  was,  dark-brown 
leather,  said  to  a  friend,  in  sober  earnest,  "  There  will 
probably  be  very  few  more  old  people  in  Boston,  for 
everybody  is  leaving  off  drinking  green  tea." 

After  Carnaro  lived  fifty-eight  years  on  twelve 
ounces  of  solid  food  and  fourteen  ounces  of  light  wines 
each  day,  containing  a  mere  trifle  of  alcohol.  Professor 
Lewes  (himself  a  drinker  of  alcohol) ,  "  wonders  that 
4 


50         SOME  LIVE  IN  SPITE  OF  WRONG  HABltS. 

intelligent  men,  in  view  of  such  a  fact,  can  doubt  that 
alcohol  is  nutritious." 

I  have  tried  in  vain  to  persuade  a  young  mother,  who 
has  inherited  a  good  constitution,  and  who  is  one  of  six 
children,  all  but  two  of  whom  lived  to  maturity,  the 
remaining  four,  however,  being  subject  to  dyspepsia, 
neuralgia,  colics,  ^nd  all  the  other  sufferings  induced 
by  too  heating  food,  to  bring  up  her  child  in  obedience 
to  Nature's  laws,  trying  to  show  her  that  the  chances 
of  its  living  to  grow  up  will  be  doubled,  and  her  ex- 
emption from  suffering  vastly  greater,  as  it  will  be  less 
liable  to  sickness,  and  have  greater  recuperative  power 
to  overcome  it ;  but  she  says  she  is  willing  to  trust  her 
child  with  the  same  treatment  that  she  herself  had,  and 
lived  through,  and  so  in  the  first  winter  of  life  the 'top 
of  its  lungs  are  exposed  by  low-necked  dresses,  and  it 
is  fed  with  sugar,  cakes,  white  bread  and  butter,  &c., 
and  now,  as  it  has  lived  through  the  winter  and  spring 
without  lung  fever,  —  as  I  told  her  it  might  not,  —  she 
is  fully  confirmed  that  she  is  right,  and  will  probably  ♦ 
go  on  risking  its  life  further  and  further  till,  unless  it 
proves  tougher  than  the  majority  of  children,  some  in- 
flammatory disease  will  take  it  from  them;  and  even 
then  it  is  hardly  probable  she  will  be  convinced  of  her 
responsibility  in  the  case.    And  thus  it  is  now,  as  in  the 
times  of  Ecclesiastes  the  Preacher,     Because  sentence 
against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore 
the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do 
evil." 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 


51 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 

By  experiments  made  on  five  hundred  prisoners,  in 
five  jails  in  Scotland,  it  vras  found  that  the  least 
amount  of  food  that  would  keep  men  up  to  their 
standard  weight  while  sitting  still  in  a  moderate  tem- 
perature, was  four  ounces  of  solid  nitrogenous  food 
and  thirteen  ounces  of  carbonaceous.  (See  Philosophy 
of  Eating,  page  98.)  And  we  see  in  another  chapter 
that  soldiers  in  active  service,  and  laboring  men^  re- 
quire from  twenty  to  twenty-three  ounces  of  carbonates 
and  five  ounces  of  nitrates. 

By  these  data  we  can  estimate  the  amount  of  these 
principles  required  in  different  degrees  of  exercise,  but 
we  must  also  consider  the  difference  in  quality  of  food 
adapted  to  different  conditions.  Laboring  men  require 
more  of  such  nitrogenous  food  as  gives  most  fibre  and 
strength  of  muscle,  as  the  flesh  of  active  animals,  cheese, 
beans,  peas,  &c.,  which  contain  fibrine  and  casein,  wjiich 
make  fibrine  for  the  muscles ;  while  sedentary  men  re- 
quire more  of  gluten  and  albumen,  which  are  found  in 
fish,  eggs,  grain,  &c.  Then,  again,  the  carbonates 
which  are  adapted  to  sedentary  life  are  sugar  and 
starch,  rather  than  most  of  the  fat  of  meats,  and  they 
need  more  of  acids  to  eliminate  effete  matter  from  the 
liver,  which  accumulates  for  want  of  activity.  They 


52 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 


need,  also,  more  waste  material,  to  keep  the  bowels  in 
action,  and  therefore  require,  besides  the  grains  in  their 
natural  state,  more  vegetables  and  fruits,  which  furnish 
waste  as  well  as  acids ;  and  these  waste  and  acid  prin- 
ciples are  needed  more  in  spring  than  at  any  other  time, 
especially  the  acid  fruits.  Not  that  that  is  Nature's  ar- 
rangement, or  that  these  requirements  would  be  needed 
if  w^e  lived  in  winter  as  we  should ;  but  sedentary  peo- 
ple spend  most  of  their  time  in  winter  in  a  warm  atmos- 
phere, and  need,  therefore,  vegetables  and  fruits  almost 
as  much  as  in  summer;  but  not  having  them,  and  eat- 
ing more  of  the  fatty  materials  which  produce  this  state 
of  things,  the  liver  becomes  engorged  with  effete  matter, 
which  vegetable  food  alone  is  adapted  to  remove. 

This  can  be  tolerated  in  winter,  when  the  system  has 
more  physical  energy,  especially  if  a  part  of  the  time 
is  spent  in  the  open  air.  But  when  warm  weather 
comes  on,  and  the  system  becomes  dormant,  the 
liver,  partaking  of  the  general  inactivity,  cannot  per- 
form the  extra  duties  of  disgorging  matter  thus  accu- 
mulated, and  jaundice,  and  other  bilious  difficulties 
ensue.  In  such  cases  medicines  which  act  directly  on 
the  liver  may  afford  temporary  relief ;  but  Nature's  sov- 
ereign remedy  is  found  in  the  juices  of  fruits  and  vege- 
tables. 

Sedentary  people  not  only  need  different  kinds  of 
fo^d  from  active  laborers,  but  they  require  it  differently 
cooked.  Active  men  can  live  and  thrive  on  salted  and 
boiled  meats,  as  I  have  before  explained,  out  of  which 
have  been  taken  the  soluble  phosphates  and  the  albu- 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENJ^ARY  PEOPLE. 


53 


men,  because  they  retain  the  elements  which  give 
strength  to  bones  and  muscles ;  but  these  last  elements 
are  essential  to  sedentary  men,  as  are  also  the  sugar, 
albumen,  and  soluble  phosphates  of  vegetables,  which 
are  lost  in  soaking  and  boiling  in  water,  unless  the 
water  in  which  they  are  boiled  or  soaked  is  retained 
and  used  as  gravy  or  soup. 

Active  men,  having  also  good  digestive  powers,  can 
dispose  of  food  out  of  which  is  taken,  by  salting,  or 
soaking  or  boiling,  the  osmazome,  or  flavor,  which  so 
essentially  assists  in  the  digestion  of  food ;  but  those 
who  have  little  out-of-door  exercise,  and  require  less 
food,  having  less  powers  of  digestion,  need  the  aid  of 
all  these  flavors,  and  every  other  auxiliary  to  digestion. 
They  should,  therefore,  have  all  their  food  so  cooked  as 
to  retain  every  element  and  every  quality  which  Nature 
has  provided  in  it,  so  as  to  make  it  most  agreeable  to 
the  taste,  and  most  digestible. 

Flavor,  which  is  essential  to  good  Digestion,  is  vola- 
tile, and  may  be  lost  in  cooking. 

That  principle  which  gives  relish  to  food,  and  wh'ch 
distinguishes  one  article  from  another,  called  osmazome, 
I  have  elsewhere  explained  (see  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
pages  307-310),  and  I  propose  here  only  to  show  how 
it  can  be  preserved  in  cooking. 

Go  into  any  house  where  meats  and  vegeta.>.les  are 
being  cooked  in  the  open  air  in  the  basement,  and  you 
find  the  air  filled  with  the  combined  flavor  of  every 


54 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOPLE. 


article.  Of  course  all  the  flavor  thus  diffused  is  lost 
for  the  purpose  for  which  Nature  intended  it,  and  the 
food  is  rendered  insipid  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  thus 
diffused,  and  to  the  same  extent  it  becomes  indigestible. 
This  is  proved  by  the  fact  adverted  to  (Philosophy  of 
Eating,  page  214),  where  good  meat  was  boiled  in  the 
open  air  till  all  its  osmazome  was  removed,  but  which 
retained  all  other  essential  elements ;  and  the  stomach  ' 
of  the  dog,  which  was  allowed  no  other  food,  so  reject- 
ed it  that,  rather  than  eat  it,  he  would  have  died  of 
starvation. 

All  meats  and  vegetables  should  therefore  be  cooked 
by  a  process  which  not  only  saves  the  soluble  nitrates, 
phosphates,  and  carbonates,  as  before  stated,  but  also 
the  osmazome ;  and  for  that  purpose,  the  steamer  in- 
vented by  Zimmermann,  and  improved  by  Duncklee,  is 
an  admirable  arrangement,  saving,  as  it  does,  all  the 
flavor,  and  condensing  it  in  the  water  at  the  bottom^, 
so  that  the  smell  is  not  perceptible  in  the  house  or 
kitchen  in  which  it  is  cooked,  and  so  that  it  may  all  be 
returned  to  the  meats  or  vegetables,  vastly  improving 
their  flavor  and  digestibility. 

The  flavor  of  soups  may  also  be  greatly  improved  by 
putting  together  every  article  to  be  used,  first  soaking 
them,  in  cold  water,  and  using  that  water  only  in  the 
steamer,  then  steaming  them  gently,  so  as  not  to  allow 
the  steam  to  escape,  and  serving  all  the  liquid  that  re- 
mains, diluted  more  or  less  to  suit  the  taste.  Soup 
thus  made,  with  a  variety  of  vegetables,  and  one  kind 
of  meat  not  before  cooked,  is  to  an  unperverted  taste 


FOOD  FOR  SEDENTARY  PEOI»LE. 


55 


delicious,  without  the  addition  of  a  single  condiment 
except  a  little  salt,  (and  the  taste  may  be  trained  to 
relish  soup  and  other  food  without  salt ;  but  there  is  no 
evidence  that  a  little  is  injurious.  Cattle  that  have 
access  to  salt  eat  all  they  want  without  injury.)  Of 
course  its  flavor  may  be  varied  to  suit  the  tastes  of  the 
family,  by  using  such  vegetables  as  are  most  agreeable, 
V  and  by  avoiding  any  article  known  to  be  offensive  to 
any. 

Eoast  meats  may  also  be  greatly  improved  by  first 
steaming  them  for  a  short  time  with  the  vegetables  to 
be  used,  and  saving  the  water,  to  be  used  with  the  drip- 
pings of  the  meat  for  gravy,  instead  of  the  vile  stuff 
made  of  flour  and  butter  and  spices,  which  is  usually 
served  for  gravy. 

Only  one  kind  of  meat  should  ever  be  cooked  in  the 
sa\ne  steamer  or  roaster  at  the  same  time ;  otherwise, 
by  mixing  the  flavors,  all  meats  taste  alike,  and  we  get 
no  variety.  For  this  reason,  hotel  life  soon  becomes 
tiresome,  and  the  food  loathsome.  All  the  meats  being 
cooked  in  the  same  oven,  and  served  with  the  same 
gravy,  you  may  call  for  beef,  pork,  veal,  mutton,  or 
chicken,  but  cannot  tell  by  the  taste  which  you  get. 

For  other  important  considerations  pertaining  to  the 
adaptation  of  food  to  our  circumstances,  and  the  dele- 
terious influences  of  all  products  of  decomposition  and 
chemical  changes,  as  vinegar,  alcohol,  phosphates,  iron, 
&c.,  and  all  other  substances  not  prepared  in  Nature's 
laboratory,  see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  under  their  re- 
spective heads. 


66 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 

That  carbonaceous  food  furnishes  animal  heat  is  clear- 
ly proved,  and  that,  therefore,  we  need  more  starch,  or  * 
fat,  to  keep  us  warm  in  winter,  just  as  we  need  more 
coal  and  wood  to  warm  our  apartments,  there  is  no 
doubt.  Some  hypercritical  professor,  who  rides  theo- 
retical physiology  as  a  hobby,  may  again  object  to  the 
comparison,  unless  I  fully  explain  the  difference  be- 
tween combustion  of  fuel  and  the  vital  process  by 
which  animal  heat  is  produced ;  but  if  I  am  able  so 
to  explain  to  common-sense  minds  the  use  of  carbona- 
ceous food,  as  to  enable  them  to  obtain  its  benefits  and 
avoid  its  evils,  I  care  very  little  for  cavilling  criticism. 
I  have  already  explained  the  fact  that  fats  and  oils, 
having  in  them  no  water,  contain  two  and  one  half 
times  more  carbon  than  starch  and  sugar,  that  contain 
a  large  per  cent,  of  water.  Fats  and  oils,  therefore, 
are  adapted  to  cold  weather,  when  large  supplies  of 
heat  are  needed  ;  and  accordingly  Nature  furnishes  this 
principle  in  cold  climates,  in  the  adipose  covering  of 
the  flesh  of  seals,  whales,  and  other  animals  which  need 
it  for  their  own  protection  from  the  cold,  and  also  in 
the  corn  and  grains,  which  contain  oil  as  well  as  starch 
in  proportion  to  the  cold  of  the  climate  in  which  it 
grows.     (See  plates  of  Northern  and  Southern  corn  in 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  25.)  So  that  the  Green- 
lander  may  have  his  excessive  demand  for  heat  supplied 
by  the  excessive  fatness  of  the  seals  and  bears  of  that 
region,  and  the  Canadian  can  be  supplied  by  the  oil  and 
starch  of  his  corn,  either  directly  in  his  corn  cakes,  or 
indirectly  in  the  fat  which  they  furnish  to  his  pigs  and 
cattle. 

People  who  live  in  the  open  air  in  cold  climates  are 
not  in  danger  of  eating  too  much  carbonaceous  food, 
even  the  gallon  of  whale  oil,  or  twelve  pounds  of  can- 
dles, which  an  Esquimaux  woman  is  said  to  eat  in  a  day, 
being  only  enough  to  keep  up  the  necessary  heat.  But 
they  who  live  in  warm  houses,  and  seldom  go  out  in  the 
cold,  may  and  generally  do  eat  too  much  carbonaceous 
food ;  and  not  having  in  winter  so  much  of  the  coun- 
teracting influence  of  fruits  and  succulent  vegetables, 
suffer  even  more  from  that  cause  than  in  summer. 

Why  is  it  that  we  suffer  more  from  inflammatory  dis-t 
eases,  especially  of  the  throat,  air  passages  and  lungs, 
in  winter  than  in  summer?  Eating,  as  we  do  in  winter, 
more  fat  meat,  buttered  cakes,  buckwheats,  &c.,  with 
less  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  spending  most  of  our 
time  in  warm  rooms,  we  keep  up  that  heated  condition 
of  the  system  which  predisposes  it  to  inflammations, 
and  exposing,  as  we  do,  perhaps,  for  twenty-three  out 
of  the  twenty-four  hours,  the  nasal  organs,  air  passages 
and  lungs,  to  a  warm  and  relaxing  atmosphere,  and 
then  for  one  hour,  perhaps,  exposing  thehi  to  air  below 
the  freezing  point,  and  perhaps  at  zero,  the  vessels  of 
the  mucous  membranes  are  first  expanded  and  filled 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


with  blood,  and  then  suddenly  contracte  1  and  the  blood 
expelled. 

This  naturally  causes  inflammation  of  the  parts  thus 
exposed,  rather  than  other  parts  not  thus  exposed,  and 
thus  in  winter  we  have  catarrh,  sore  throat,  bronchitis, 
lung  fevers,  &c.,  unless  perchance  we  get  a  chill  on  some 
muscles  or  other  organs  by  exposure  to  currents  of  air 
or  damp  clothing;  then  we  may  have,  instead,  rheuma- 
tism or  gout,  or  some  other  disease  to  which  we  may  be 
predisposed. 

Nature  evidently  made  provision  in  each  climate  for 
us  to  live  mostly  in  the  open  air ;  for  we  find  that  the 
starch  in  grains  and  seeds,  and  the  proportion  of  fat  in 
all  animals,  compared  with  the  muscle-making  ele- 
ments, are  furnished  in  proportion  to  the  average 
amount  of  cold  for  the  year  of  the  climate  in  which 
the  animals  or  grains  grow  or  live.  For  example  : 
The  weight  of  wheat  is  mostly  made  up  of  starch  and 
gluten ;  and  hundreds  of  analyses  have  been  made  to 
ascertain  their  relative  proportions  in  different  climates 
of  Europe,  and  it  is  found  to  vary  from  the  cold  north- 
ern states  of  Scotland  and  Northern  Russia,  from  ten 
per  cent,  of  gluten  in  these  northern  climates  to  thirty- 
five  per  cent,  in  Italy  and  Turkey  and  the  more  south- 
ern cliniates,  the  remainder  being  mostly  starch.  And 
the  saoe  fact  has  been  shown  by  comparing' the  wheat 
of  Canada  with  that  of  Georgia  and  Alabama  in  this 
country.  And  to  show  that  this  is  not  an  accidental 
circumstance,  wheat  from  Canada  has  been  sown  and 
raised  in  Georgia,  and  the  first  year  it  will  produce 


FOOD  FOR  WINTER. 


59 


nearly  the  amount  of  starch  as  the  same  kind  in 
Canada;  but  if  the  product  be  again  raised  in  Geor- 
gia, the  next  crop  will  contain  less  starch,  and  it  will 
thus  continue  to  diminish,  if  continuously  raised,  till  its 
proportions  are  the  same  as  Georgia  wheat;  and  the 
change  will  be  reversed  by  raising  Georgia  wheat  in 
Canada;  and  the  same  effect  is  produced  by  the  same 
process  on  corn  and  other  grain.  For  those,  therefore, 
who  in  this  climate  live  mostly  in  warm  houses,  and 
spend  but  little  time  in  open  air,  and  for  warm  weath- 
er, bread  from  Southern  corn  and  Southern  wheat  is 
much  more  wholesome  than  from  Northern  corn  or 
wheat. 

We  cannot  of  course  always  live  in  the  open  air  in 
winter,  or  avoid  sudden  changes  of  temperature,  and 
the  important  practical  question  is.  How  can  we  avoid 
the  evils  produced  by  these  changes?  Of  bathing,  fric- 
tion, muscular  exercise,  as  giving  the  system  recupera- 
tive power,  and  power  to  resist  the  effects  of  changes, 
I  have  elsewhere  written.  **  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
under  their  respective  heads.) 


60 


CHRONIC  DISEASES  CUEED. 


CHRONIC  DISEASES  CUEED  BY  DIET. 

In  another  chapter  I  have  shown  that  extra  carbona- 
ceous food,  by  keeping  up  the  heat  of  the  blood  above 
its  natural  temperature,  predisposes  the  whole  system 
to  fevers  and  inflammations,  and  renders  these  fevers 
and  inflammations  less  easily  cured,  just  as  exposure  of 
wood  and  other  combustible  substances  to  heat  renders 
them  liable  to  combustion,  and  makes  it  more  difficult 
to  subdue  the  flames  if  once  commenced. 

Extra  carbonaceous  food,  then,  is  the  predisposing 
cause  of  catarrhs,  sore  throats,  lung  fevers,  and  inflam- 
mations generally.  The  exciting  cause  is  change  of 
temperature,  producing  undue  contraction  and  expan 
sion  of  blood  vessels;  but  if  there  is  sufficient  recu- 
perative power  in  the  system,  these  diseases  will  be 
prevented  or  immediately  thrown  off. 

Accordingly  we  find  that  the  same  exposure  which 
will  produce  disease  in  one  person  will  be  entirely 
harmless  in  another;  and  some  facts  have  recently 
come  to  light  which  go  to  corroborate  the  idea  that 
those  who  take  no  extra  carbonaceous  food  have  power 
not  only  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  disease,  but 
have  recuperative  powers  that  produce  wonderful  effects 
in  the  cure  of  disease  :  so  that,  living  according  to  Na- 
ture's laws,  we  may  not  only  hope  to  be  exempt  from 


HERNIA  CURED  BY  DIET. 


61 


new  diseases,  but  may  also  get  rid  of  chronic  diseases 
and  injSrmities  of  even  twenty-five  years'  standing. 

My  attention  was  first  called  to  this  fact  by  the  state- 
ment of  Banting,  the  fat  Englishman,  who  reduced  his 
weight  by  abstaining  from  carbonaceous,  and  eating 
freely  of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  food,  that  while 
living  on  this  diet,  a  hernia,  for  which  he  had  worn  a 
truss  for  many  years,  was  almost  entirely  cured ;  and 
during  the  last  year  a  case  has  come  under  my  observa- 
tion still  more  remarkable.  A  gentleman  who  has  been 
obliged  to  wear  a  truss  for  inguinal  hernia  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years,  and  who  is  now  sixty-four  years  old, 
having  for  the  last  two  years  eaten  no  extra  carbo- 
naceous food,  has  been  gradually  recovering  from  the 
hernia,  and  now  for  some  months  has  left  off  his  truss 
entirely.  At  first  these  cures  seemed  to  me  almost 
miraculous  ;  at  least  I  could  see  no  connection  between 
the  cause  and  effect ;  but  on  reflection,  I  am  convinced 
that  the  explanation  is  this  :  Hernia  is  caused  by  want 
of  tone  and  consequent  relaxation  of  the  abdominal 
muscles,  occasioned,  perhaps,  generally  by  want  of  suflS- 
cient  nitrogenous  food.  The  tendons  are  not  drawn 
together  suflSciently  taut  at  the  ring  to  retain  perfectly 
the  flowing  and  slippery  intestines,  and  they  pass 
through ;  but  by  leaving  off  extra  carbonates,  and  tak- 
ing instead  the  nitrogenous  food,  which  gives  strength 
J;o  muscles,  their  tone  is  restored,  the  tendons  are  drawn 
taut,  and  the  bowels  are  retained. 

The  following  case  of  family  idiosyncrasy  I  think 
gives  some  light  on  the  influence  of  nitrogenous  food 


62  EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  TOO  NITEOGENOU8. 

on  the  muscular  tissues  :    A  few  years  since,  a  physi- 
cian in  Boston,  in  a  good  but  not  harassing  practice, 
became  so  affected  by  disease  of  the  heart  that  for  a 
long  time  — I  think  a  year  — he  could  not  attend  to 
business,  and  at  times  was  brought  apparently  to  the 
point  of  death.    He  travelled  from  city  to  city,  con- 
sulting all  the  most  eminent  physicians  in  the  country, 
especially  such  as   made   heart  disease  a  specialty. 
They  all  agreed  that  his  case  was  anomalous;  and 
inasmuch  as  his  father  and  one  brother  had  died  of  a 
similar  disease,  they  naturally  supposed  his  would  prove 
fatal  also.   But  he  recovered,  and  is  now  enjoying  good 
health  and  engaged  in  active  practice. 

Knowing  that  he  was  an  extravagant  eater  of  cheese, 
—  the  most  concentrated  nitrogenous  food  in  the  cata- 
logue (see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  122),  — and 
seeing  the  extraordinary  effects  of  such  food  in  the 
cases°just  referred  to,  and,  therefore,  suspecting  that 
cheese  might  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  case, 
I  called  on  him,  and  obtained  the  following  facts  :  — 

His  father  and  his  brother,  as  well  as  himself,  were 
all  extravagant  eaters  of  cheese  ;  eating  it  at  all  times  in 
the  day,  and  in  great  quantities;  and  they  had,  of 
course,  great  powers  of  digestion :  for  a  stomach  that 
.can  digest  cheese  in  half-pound  quantities  can  digest 
anything.  And  the  old  gentleman  died  at  eighty-four, 
of  what  was  considered  organic  disease  of  the  hearty 
retaining  his  digestive  powers  to  the  last.  The  brother 
died  comparatively  young,  with  similar  symptoms  ;  and 
the  doctor,  after  struggling  for  a  long  time  with  similav 


EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  TOO  NITROGENOUS.  63 


symptoms,  seemed  to  be  approaching  a  similar  end, 
when  he  gave  up  cheese  for  a  time,  and  soon  began  to 
recover.  Since  then,  for  two  or  three  years,  having 
eaten  less  than  half  his  former  quantity  of  cheese, 
he  seems  perfectly  well. 

The  doctor's  case  was  not,  of  course,  organic  disease, 
and  my  diagnosis  of  the  three  cases  is  this  :  All  eating 
probably  two  or  three  times  more,  nitrogenous  and  phos- 
phatic  food  than  was  necessary  to  supply  the  requisite 
muscular  and  nervous  power,  and,  as  in  the  cases  re- 
ferred to,  where  the  right  proportions  of  this  kind  of  food 
gave  new  tone  to  the  abdominal  muscles,  and  enabled 
them  to  overcome  a  hernia  and  cure  it.  so  in  their 
cases,  excess  of  the  same  food  produced  an  excessive 
tone  and  tension  to  the  muscular  system,  and  the  heart, 
being  a  muscular  organ,  the  action  of  which  must  be 
regular  and  not  excessive,  to  perform  its  functions  prop- 
erly, that  was  the  organ  on  which  this  excess  of  tone 
and  tension  most  clearly  manifested  itself,  and  the 
symptoms  were  precisely  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected under  such  circumstances. 

The  circulation  was  very  rapid,  and  the  pulse  very 
full  and  irregular,  and  at  times,  for  eighteen  hours 
without  ceasing,  the  heart  would  beat  with  such  force 
as  to  jar  the  bed  on  which  the  doctor  lay,  and  then 
suddenly,  as  if  exhausted,  would  calm  down  as  if  to 
rest. 

With  recuperative  powers  such  as  is  induced  by  such 
food  and  such  powers  of  digestion,  Nature  holds  out 
wonderfully,  and  for  a  whole  year  she  was  able  to  grap- 


64  EFFFCTS  OF  FOOD  TOO  NITROGENOUS 


pie  with  the  difficulty,  till  relief  finally  came  by  remov- 
ing the  cause  ;  and  now,  if  he  will  allow  himself  to  take 
no  more  nitrogenous  food  than  is  necessary,  say  five 
ounces  in  a  day,  his  chances  of  life  are  as  good  as  those 
of  any  other  man  in  the  sanae  circumstances  in  other 
respects. 

His  brother,  continuing  his  extra  nitrogenous  diet  to 
the  last,  and,  having  less  recuperative  power,  perhaps, 
succumbed  to  the  first  attack  in  two  or  three  weeks. 
His  father,  having  extraordinary  vital  energy,  endured 
the  strain  of  extra  nervous  and  muscular  power  to  a 
good  old  age,  but,  continuing  his  extraordinary  diet  to 
the  last,  he  yielded  also  to  the  first  attack. 

But  other  cases  show  more  directly  the  recuperative 
effect  of  natural  food.  A  gentleman  of  scrofulous  ten- 
dencies, who  had  had  for  eight  or  ten  years  an  open 
abscess,  was  induced,  for  the  improvement  of  his  gen- 
eral health,  to  abstain  from  extra  carbon,  and  take  food 
rich  in  nitrogen  and  phosphorus,  and  almost  immediately 
the  abscess  began  to  heal,  and  in  a  few  weeks  it  ceased 
to  discharge,  and  this  without  any  local  application  to  it. 

Another  gentleman  had  a  kind  of  gouty  enlarge- 
ment of  the  great  toe  joints,  which  had  become  chronic, 
and  which  required  boots  of  extra  width  to  enable  him 
to  walk.  For  improvement  in  general  health,  he  also 
adopted  natural  food  exclusively,  and  in  a  few  months 
could  wear  narrow,  genteel  boots,  without  the  least  pain 
or  inconvenience. 

These  three  very  suggestive  cases  have  come  under 
my  observation  within  the  last  year;  and  among  the 


CHEONIC  DISEASES  CURED. 


65 


large  number  who  have  already  adopted  practically 
"  the  Philosophy  of  Eating "  (even  now  reckoned  by 
hundreds) ,  there  are  probably  other  cases  that  have  not 
been  brought  to  my  notice.* 

These  cases,  though  not  sufficient  to  establish  an  im- 
portant theory,  at  least  give  us  reason  to  hope  for  more 
benefit  from  living  philosophically  than  I  had  dared  to 
anticipate.  They  show  at  least  that,  to  some  extent,  ab- 
staining from  extra  carbonaceous  food  and  using  instead 
that  which  is  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic,  the  system  has 
increased  power  not  only  to  resist  the  encroachments  of 
diseases,  but  also  to  overcome  and  cure  them. 

NOTE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 

Dec.  24,  1868. 

In  the  four  months  since  this  chapter  was  written,  I 
have  seen  cases,  showing  that  by  the  combined  influence 
of  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  food  and  homoeopathic 
medicines,  scrofulous  ulcers,  tubercles,  and  ulceration  of 
the  lungs,  scrofulous  and  fatty  tumors,  can  be  cured; 
and  in  one  case,  two  ovarian  tumors,  producing  enor- 
mous distension,  were  entirely  removed  in  two  months, 
leaving  the  patient  in  more  vigorous  health  than  she  had 
been  before  for  years.  . 

*  If  any  persons,  who,  on  abstaining  from  extra  carbonaceous  food, 
may  have  experienced  incidental  benefit  in  regard  to  long  standing  or 
other  infirmities  or  diseases,  will  report  to  me  the  facts  in  their  cases, 
they  may  subserve  the  interests  both  of  science  and  humanity. 

5 


6G 


FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 


FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 

In  warm  climates  Nature  provides  starch  and  sugar 
for  necessary  animal  heat,  not  fat;  and  gluten  and  albu- 
men for  muscular  power ;  while  in  cold  climates  fat 
and  starch  are  the  carbonates.  Ripe  fruits  and  green 
vegetables  have  mostly  sugar  for  their  carbonates,  and 
gluten  and  albumen  for  their  nitrates.  Grains  and 
seeds  have  mostly  starch  for  carbonates,  and  gluten 
and  albumen  for  their  nitrates;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  while  grain,  especially  corn  growing  in  the 
Northern  States  and  Canada,  has  a  large  share  of  oil, 
the  corn  of  Southern  states  has  not  a  sixth  as  much. 

i^nimals,  also,  of  northern  climates,  eating  the  grain 
that  contains  fattening  oil,  have  much  more  adipose 
covering  to  their  flesh  than  the  same  species  in  southern 
climates.  These  are  clear  intimations  that  sugar  and 
starch  are  appropriate  principles  for  furnishing  animal 
heat  in  warm  weather,  and  fat  and  starch  in  cold 
weather. 

We  also  find  a  larger  proportion  of  starch  in  wheat 
and  corn  (Southern  corn  having  but  half  the  starch  in 
proportion  to  gluten  as  Northern  corn),  and,  indeed,  in 
all  grains  in  northern  climates.  (See  plate  of  Northern 
and  Southern  corn  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  25.) 
We  €nd,  also,  that  the  warmer  the  climate  the  greater 


FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 


67 


the  abundance  of  succulent  vegetables  and  fruits,  whose 
carbonates  consist  almost  entirely  of  sugar.  And  from 
all  these  facts  we  are  shown  that  vegetables,  grains,  and 
fruits  are  intended  for  warm  weather,  and  that  meats, 
especially  fat  meats,,  are  better  adapted  to  cold  weather. 
Fish,  however,  of  every  climate,  furnishes  appropriate 
food  for  that  climate ;  those  of  northern  waters  being 
fatter  than  those  of  southern. 

A  little  reflection  on  these  data  will  suggest  a  bill  of 
fare  for  warm  weather,  consisting  of  the  grains  in  their 
natural  state,  —  avoiding  Northern  corn  and  wheat,  — 
vegetables,  fruits  and  berries,  as  they  come  along,  the 
most  succulent  being  furnished  in  the  warmest  part  of 
the  season,  with  lean  meats  and  fish,  and  only  enough 
of  butter  or  fat  to  make  them  palatable,  avoiding, 
especially,  stimulating  condiments  and  concentrated 
combinations  of  heating  food,  as  pastry,  cakes,  flour 
puddings,  white  bread  and  butter,  &c.,  these  carbona- 
ceous articles  of  food  being  undoubtedly  a  predisposing 
cause  of  the  dysenteries,  dyspepsias,  liver  and  bowel 
complaints,  that  are  so  prevalent  in  warm  weather. 

^And  it  is  not  an  argument  against  this  theory  that 
nursing  children  are  as  liable  to  these  diseases  as  oth- 
ers ;  for,  according  to  the  doctrine  I  have  endeavored 
to  establish,  the  influence  of  carbonaceous  food  is  the 
same  on  the  nursing  child,  through  the  mother,  as  on 
the  weaned  child  directly.  Nor  is  it  an  argument 
against  the  free  use  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  that,  if 
taken  only  occasionally,  and  in  excess,  they  produce  or 
excite  these  very  diseases ;  for  it  is  true  in  this  case, 


68  '  FOOD  FOR  SUMMER. 

as  in  every  other,  that  that  which  in  regular  use  and 
appropriate  quantities  is  wholesome,  in  irregular  use. 
and  in  excess  is  the  source  of  suffering  and  disease. 
Besides,  if  children  were  constantly  supplied  with  fresh 
and  wholesome  fruits  and  vegetablQs,  they  would  never 
eat  them  in  excess.  (For  further  development  of  these 
principles,  see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  139,  also  the 
chapter  on  Dyspepsia.) 


dyspepsia:  its  cause  and  cuee. 


69 


PEEVENTION  AND  CUEE  OF  DYSPEPSIA. 

The  grand  port  of  entry  for  the  human  system  is  the 
gtomach,  and  the  senses  of  taste  and  smell  are  placed, 
as  sentinels,  to  guard  its  portals ;  and,  if  not  tampered 
with  and  demoralized,  they  would  not,  under  any  pre- 
tence, allow  a  particle  of  matter,  solid  or  liquid,  to 
enter  it,  except  food  as  organized  and  prepared  in 
Nature's  own  laboratory,  and  drinks  composed  of  milk, 
the  juices  of  fruits  and  plants,  and  pure  water ;  and 
these  would  only  be  admitted  as  they  are  needed  to 
supply  the  necessary  elements  as  fast  as  they  are  used 
up  and  cast  off  from  the  system. 

All  animals  in  their  natural  state  range  at  large  in 
the  sphere  assigned  them,  and  have  access  to  every- 
thing, good  and  bad;  but  their  appetites  and  tastes, 
as  sentinels  and  guardian  angels,  allow  not  a  particle 
that  would  be  injurious  to  enter  the  stomach.  Though 
there  might  be  found  in  the  same  field,  and  even  in  the 
same  plant,  the  natural  food  and  the  deadly  poison, 
they  are  directed,  with  unerring  certainty,  to  take  such 
food,  as  contains  the  elements  required  to  keep  them  in 
health,  and  to  reject  everything  that  would  be  injuri- 
ous. Having,  therefore,  all  that  is  requisite  to  keep 
the  stomach  and  digestive  organs  in  health,  and  noth- 
ing to  disturb  their  secretions  and  functions,  they  never 


70 


dyspepsia:  its  cause  and  cure. 


have  dyspepsia,  or  any  other  disease,  except  such  as 
are  induced  by  accident. 

Does  any  one  doubt  that  man  would  be  as  perfectly 
exempt  from  dyspepsia,  and,  indeed,  from  all  other 
diseases,  if  he  lived  as  entirely  on  natural  food,  and 
obeyed  as  perfectly  all  the  laws  of  Jiis  nature?  To 
believe  otherwise  is  to  believe  that  our  Maker  has 
taken  less  care  of  his  most  perfect  work  than  of  his 
inferior  productions.  Do  you  say  that  man  has  less 
power  to  discriminate  between  the  good  and  the  bad 
because  his  senses  of  smell  and  taste  are  less  acute? 
That  may  be  true ;  but  are  not  his  intellect  and  reason 
more  than  an  equivalent  for  any  deficiency  in  his  ani- 
mal senses?  Our  senses  of  smell  and  taste  are,  how- 
ever, .sufficiently  acute  to  guide  us,  if  unperverted  by 
the  use  of  food  out  of  which  has  been  taken  some  of 
its  essential  elements,  and  by  poisonous  articles.  And, 
as  it  is,  they  are  faithful  sentinels  still,  as  far  as  they 
are  allowed  to  be,  and  admit  no  food  in  its  natural 
condition  but  at  the  right  time  and  in  right  quantities  ; 
so  that,  in  regard  to  the  grains,  meats,  milk,  vegeta- 
bles, and  fruits,  in  their  natural  state,  if  we  ate  noth- 
ing else,  we  might  eat  as  much  of  them  as  the  appetite 
demanded,  without  injury. 

But  a  faithful  sentinel  might  admit  to  the  gai risen  one 
who  might  prove  to  be  the  vilest  traitor  or  spy ;  and 
though,  at  first,  he  might  be  suspicious  of  him,  might, 
after  a  while,  come  to  like  him,  and  treat  him  with 
kindness,  if,  at  first,  he  had  been  ordered  to  admit  him 
by  a  superior  officer ;  —  so  these  sentinels  of  the  stom- 


dyspepsia:  its  cause  and  cure.  71 

ach  admit,  and  come  to  have  confidence  in,  and  even 
ardently  love,  not  only  butter,  sugar,  starch,  fat,  and 
other  articles  which  are  injurious,  in  that  unnatural, 
concentrated  state  in  which  we  use  them,  but  even  the 
vilest  weeds  and  compounds  containing  the  most  poi- 
sonous principles,  as  tobacco,  alcoholic  drinks,  opium, 
hashish,  &c.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  may  be 
questioned  whether,  with  these  perverted  appetites  and 
tastes,  it  is  possible  to  return  to  natural  food  alone,  so 
as  to  bring  back  the  system  to  its  normal  condition, 
and  make  it  exempt  from  the  diseases  and  suffering  to 
which  it  is  thus  made  liable. 

Whether  or  not  it  is  possible  to  restore  a  degenerate 
and  diseased  body  to  a  state  of  perfect  health,  one  thing 
is  encouraging  :  —  we  find,  by  the  testimony  of  all  who 
resolve  to  live  as  nearly  right  as  possible,  that  they 
succeed  in  improving  their  condition  far  beyond  their 
expectations,  and  that  just  in  proportion  as  they  ap- 
proximate to  Nature's  standard  is  their  approximation 
to  health,  as  also  to  the  enjoyments  of  eating ;  and  in 
just  the  proportion  as  they  eat  natural  food,  properly 
cooked,  and  allow  nothing  else  to  enter  the  stomach, 
are  they  free  from  dyspepsia,  and  the  thousand  and  one 
pains  and  ills  that  are  connected  with  it. 

Animals  in  their  natural  state  never  suffer  from 
dyspepsia,  because,  from  the  day  of  their  birth  till 
the  day  of  their  death,  being  left  free  to  follow  their 
natural  appetites  and  tastes,  they  never  take  into  their 
stomachs  a  particle  of  matter,  solid  or  liquid,  but  natu- 
ral food  and  pure  water ;  but  the  appetites  and  tastes 


72      dyspepsia:  its  prevention  and  cupvE. 

of  children  are  not  left  unperverted  for  a  single  day,  — 
"  they  go  astray  as  soon  as  they  be  born,"  —  and  that 
child  is  a  lucky  exception  who  escapes  unnatural  food 
for  the  first  six  hours  of  life :  as  if  Nature  was  so  at 
fault  as  not  to  provide  nourishment  as  soon  as  it  is 
needed.    As  a  natural  consequence,  the  symptoms  of 
dyspepsia,  such  as  flatulence,  colic,  &c.,  commence 
on  the  first  day  of  life;  and  then  come  the  catnip 
and  camomile  teas,  to  relieve  the  flatulence  and  pains 
induced  by  the  sugar,  which  are  sure  to  induce  other 
pains  worse  and  more  enduring ;  and  thus,  on  the  first 
day  of  life  is  inaugurated,  not  only  dyspepsia,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  a  system  of  treatment  which  per- 
petuates all  manner  of  diseases  and  sufferings  to  the 
end  of  life,  and  which  diminishes  the  average  length 
of  life  from  "  threescore  years  and  ten  "  to  from  thirty 
to  thirty-three  years.     And  the  foundation  for  these 
evils  is  also  laid  during  the  period  of  nursing,  and  even 
before  birth,  as  I  have  before  explained,  by  the  neglect 
of  the  mother  to  furnish  elements  for  a  perfect  organi- 
zation, and  by  furnishing,  instead,  elements  which,  not 
being  needed,  are  injurious. 

And  having,  in  such  culpable  ignorance,  laid  the 
foundation,  and  inaugurated  a  system,  and  formed  ap- 
petites for  unnatural  food,  by  which  these  diseases  and 
sufferings  are  so  early  commenced,  we,  of  course,  fol- 
low on,  thoughtlessly,  in  the  way  in  which  our  parents 
have  started  us,  in  the  use  of  heating  food  and  delete- 
rious drugs,  till  we  inevitably  fall  a  prey  to  the  dis- 
eases which  are  thus  induced  and  perpetuated.  And, 


dyspepsia:  its  prevjention  and  cure.  73 

to  every  reflecting  mind,  the  wonder  is,  not  that  so 
many  are  troubled  with  dyspepsia,  but  rather  that  any 
escape. 

Thie  Process  of  Digestion, 

The  most  important  agents  in  the  process  of  digestion 
are  the  juices  of  the  mouth,  the  slomach,  the  liver,  and 
pancreas  —  the  gastric  juice  being  the  most  important, 
the  others  being  only  auxiliary.  These  juices  are 
changed  day  by  day,  in  certain  qualities,  so  as  to  be 
adapted  to  the  digestion  of  different  kinds  of  food,  and,^ 
like  muscles  which  have  regular  duties  to  perform, 
have  power  given  them  according  to  the  duties  re- 
quired. If  we  live  on  food  requiring  little  power  of 
digestion,  like  rice,  fine  flour,  fresh  fish,  soups,  &c., 
the  powers  of  digestion  will,  after  a  while,  become  so 
enfeebled  that,  if  suddenly  we  take  solid  meat,  cheese, 
&c.,  suitable  juices  not  being,  at  first,  furnished,  indi- 
gestion, or  temporary  dyspepsia,  follows  ;  but  continue 
the  use  of  these  articles,  and  the  appropriate  juices  will 
be  furnished,  and  the  powers  of  digestion  will  rally  and 
perform  the  task  assigned  them.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  most  digestible  food  is  best  for  those 
who  are  predisposed  to  dyspepsia ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  powers  of  the  stomach  are  capable  of  cultivation, 
and  become  strong  or  weak  according  to  the  regular 
work  imposed  on  them  to  do,  just  as  the  muscles  be- 
come strong  or  weak  as  they  are  or  are  not  actively 
used.  But  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  strength 
can  be  imparted  only  by  regular  and  gradually  in- 


74         DYSPEPSIA  :  ITS  PREVENTION  AND  CURE. 

creasing  exercise.  Perhaps,  for  example,  there  is  not 
one  stomach  in  twenty  which,  after  a  lengthy  absti- 
nence from  it,  could  readily  digest  cheese ;  and  yet 
there  is  not  one  stomach  in  a  thousand  that  could  not 
bo  made  to  digest  it  readily,  by  beginning  its  use  in 
small  quantities  early  in  the  day,  and  increasing  the 
quantity  daily ;  and  thus  we  may  teach  the  stomach, 
as  we  may  teach  the  muscles,  to  perform  any  reasona- 
ble task  regularly  imposed  on  it.  This  is  an  important 
consideration,  both  as  a  means  of  preventing  and  curing 
dyspepsia. 

Another  important  consideration  relates  to  the  prin- 
ciple which  gives  relish  to  food,  called  osmazome  —  a 
principle  without  which  the  digestive  juices  are  not 
secreted,  and  without  which  digestion  cannot  go  on 
at  all.  This  is  proved  by  the  experiment  already  re- 
ferred to,  in  which  the  dog,  shut  up  with  meat  having 
all  its  elements  preserved  but  the  flavor,  would  not  eat 
it,  because  it  could  not  be  digested,  although  he  was 
starving.  Our  own  experience  also  shows  us  how 
much  our  digestion  depends  on  the  relish  with  which 
it  is  taken.  And  we  are  thus  taught  that  it  is  our 
bounden  duty  to  enjoy  eating  as  it  is  our  duty  to  enjoy 
life.  But  w^e  find  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  that 
true  enjoyment  comes  only  in  connection  with  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  our  being ;  so  that  they  enjoy  most  who 
only  study  to  know  what  is  duty,  while  they  enjoy  least 
who  only  seek  after  enjoyment  in  eating,  and  most  as- 
siduously inquire  what  can  be  had  that  is  good  to  eat. 
So  also  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  pleasures 


IMPORTANCE  OF  RELISHING  FOOD. 


75 


which  we  do  enjoy,  in  the  unnatural  excitements  of 
excess,  are  fraught  with  evil  consequences,  and  pro- 
duce subsequent  reaction,  depression,  exhaustion,  or 
suffering — as,  in  the  other  case,  the  pleasures  derived 
from  the  taste  of  sugar,  butter,  flour,  and  their  combi- 
nations, give  us,  in  just  the  proportion  as  their  flavor 
is  excessive  and  unnatural,  subsequent  gastric  exhaus- 
tion, debility,  disease,  and  pain. 

To  get,  then,  all  the  gustatory  enjoyment  we  are 
capable  of  receiving,  we  have  but  to  take,  every  day, 
the  kind  and  variety  of  food  best  suited  to  the  condition 
and  duties  of  the  body  for  that  day  —  so  kind  is  our 
heavenly  Father,  in  providing  that,  in  keeping  his  com- 
mandments, physical  and  moral,  there  is  always  great 
reward,  and  in  thus  making  it  promote  our  highest 
happiness  to  do  right.  But  some  one  may  say,  "I 
am  so  wedded 'to  my  butter,  and  sugar,  and  pastry, 
and  cakes,  and  they  have  so  become  second  nature, 
that  I  cannot  do  without  them."  Well,  if  you  cannot 
make  the  sacrifice  of  a  radical  reform,  try  a  partial 
course,  and  you  shall  find  a  reward  even  in  that. 
Take,  for  example,  good,  clear,  light-colored  wheat, 
and  have  it  well  ground,  and  kept  in  a  close,  tight 
cask,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  need  of  sifting,  and 
make  from  it  unleavened  bread,  according  to  rule 
(Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  46) ,  oi!  from  good  sweet 
yeast,  and  not  eaten  till  it  has  been  for  some  hours  in 
pure  air,  to  exchange  its  carbonic  acid  gas  for  oxygen, 
and  use  that,  or  rye  and  Indian,  entirely,  and  a  large 
majority  will  prefer  it,  at  first,  to  fine  white  bread; 


76      dyspepsia:  its  prevention  and  cure. 

and  though,  at  first,  being  harder  of  digestion,  it  may 
cause  flatulence,  yet,  follow  the  rule  for  teaching  the 
stomach  to  do  its  duty,  and  you  will  soon  be  rewarded 
in  improved  digestion  and  improved  health.    But  in 
confirmed  dyspepsia  a  more  radical  course  will  be 
needed ;  and  in  just  the  proportion  as  you  return  to 
natural  food  will  be  your  enjoyment  of  digestion,  your 
freedom  from  flatulence  and  colic  pains,  and  you  will 
find  yourself  able  to  do  cheerfully  all  the  duties  of  life. 
Hundreds  have  tried  it,  and  this  is  their  unanimous 
testimony ;  and  if  there  are  exceptions,  they  are  only 
apparent,  and  are  dependent  on  want  of  perseverance 
sufficient  to  overcome  the  effects  of  long-continued 
perversion  of  the  digestive  powers.    At  any  time,  be- 
fore there  is  actual  disorganization  of  some  organs 
connected  with  digestion,  which,  from  continued  trans- 
gressions, will  sometimes  occur,  a  radical  change,  and 
conformity  to  Nature's  laws,  not  only  regarding  food, 
but  air,  exercise,  friction  of  the  skin,  &c.,  will  effect 
a  radical  cure.     (For  other  important  considerations 
relating  to  digestion,  see  chapter  on  Leanness.) 


DIFFICULTY  OF  OBTAINING  NATURAL  FOOD,  77 


THE   DIFFICULTY  OF  OBTAINING  NATU- 
EAL  FOOD. 

It  may  be  thought  impossible,  in  a  fat  and  starch 
eating  community  like  ours,  to  get  a  supply  of  natural 
food,  and  get  it  properly  cooked.  And  in  the  deranged 
condition  of  the  country,  when  half  of  all  the  grain 
raised  is  converted  into  whiskey  and  beer,  and  half  of 
the  other  half  deprived,  by  bolting,  of  many  of  its 
essential  elements,  and  three  fourths  of  all  the  milk  is 
converted  into  butter,  it  might  be  difficult,  at  first,  if 
we  should  all  reform  at  once,  to  get  a  supply  of  natural 
food ;  but  any  man,  or  family,  who  sincerely  desires  to 
live  according  to  philosophical  principles,  finds  the 
means  of  doing  so,  and  supply  always  follows  demand 
in  everything.  But  it  is  more  difficult,  especially  in 
travelling,  to  get  pure  water,  or  the  unfermented  juices 
of  fruits,  to  supply  the  liquids  requisite  to  preserve 
perfect  health ;  but  this  is  not  impossible,  with  access, 
as  we  generally  have,  to  milk  and  fruits,  which  contain 
from  eighty-five  to  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  water. 

In  Boston,  where  our  water  is  almost  as  pure  as 
distilled  water,  except  where  it  is  contaminated  by 
contact  with  lead,  zinc,  or  copper,  in  our  service  pipes 
and  household  appliances,  and  where  we  are  blessed, 
the  year  round,  with  abundance  of  apples,  pears^ 


78     DIFFICULTY  OF  OBTAINING  NATURAL  FOOD. 

peaches,  and  other  fruits,  either  fresh,  canned,  or  de- 
siccated, and  all  the  meats,  fish,  vegetables,  and  grains 
that  we  ask  for,  and  where  we  have,  in  most  parts, 
clean  streets,  and  well-ventilated  houses,  we  might  have 
almost  perfect  exemption,  not  only  from  dyspepsia,  but 
from  all  other  diseases,  except,  perhaps,  those  which 
come  from  external  causes,  as  small-pox,  measles, 
whooping-cough,  &c.-and  these  would  have  no  ter- 
rors for  families  who  fortified  their  systems  by  the  use 
of  natural  food  and  natural  drinks. 

The  main  difficulty  is  found  in  getting  a  constant 
supply  of  the  unfermented  juices  of  fruits,  as,  in  the 
common  mode  of  keeping  them,  they  so  readily  fer- 
ment, when  in  contact  with  the  air,  that,  though  a 
cask  or  a  bottle  of  purified  cider  or  wine  will  remain 
unfermented  while  full,  when  a  part  is  drawn  out  its 
place  is  filled  with  air,  the  oxygen  of  which  produces 
fermentation.     What  we  need  is  an  arrangement  by 
which  the  air  shall  be  excluded  from  the  cask  or  bottle 
as  it  is  being  emptied,  and  its  place  occupied  by  a 
medium  containing  no  oxygen,  or  not  liable  so  to  im- 
part it  as  to  produce  fermentation.    Such  a  medium 
is  carbonic  acid  gas,  which  is,  luckily,  of  greater  spe- 
cific'gravity  than  common  air ;  so  that  being  introduced 
into  a  room  or  vessel  filled  only  with  air,  it  will,  like 
water,  or  any  other  liquid,  rest  on  the  bottom  of  the 
room  or  vessel,  and  exclude  the  air. 

If  these  casks  or  bottles  are  placed  in  a  small  room 
or  box,  like  a  refrigerator,  air  tight  except  at  the  top, 
and  that  room  or  box  is  kept  filled  with  carbonic  acid 


DIFFICULTY  OF  OBTAINING  NATURAL  FOOD.  79 

gas,  as  we  draw  out  the  wine  or  cider  the  space  w^ill  be 
occupied  with  the  gas  instead  of  air ;  and  by  the  use 
of  ice,  these  juices,  and  those  of  any  other  fruits  or 
berries,  may  be  kept  the  year  round.  On  this  princi- 
ple, on  a  large  scale,  are  constructed  the  fruit  houses 
invented  by  Professor  Nyce,  in  which  are  preserved  the 
year  round,  apples,  grapes,  and  vegetables,  and  by  a 
slight  modification,  also  meats,  fish,  and  game  of  all 
kinds;  while  the  more  tender  fruits  and  berries  are 
preserved  for  a  long  time,  so  as  to  furnish  a  variety  at 
every  season 'of  the  year:  and  there  is  no  diflSculty  of 
applying  the  principle,  on  a  smaller  scale,  to  any  house 
or  ship,  at  an  expense  not  much  if  any  greater  than 
that  of  a  common  refrigerator  of  equal  size.  Indeed, 
in  the  greater  convenience  of  taking  out  articles  at  the 
top,  and  saving  the  gas,  the  smaller  preservator  would 
have  the  advantage. 

Does  any  one  say  he  cannot  aflFord  such  luxuries? 
Let  any  man  calculate  the  expense  of  the  butter  and 
sugar  and  fine  flour  that  is  wasted  in  his  family,  and 
that  causes,  besides,  the  loss  of  his  children,  and  the 
disease  and  suffering  which  these  heating  articles  pro- 
duce,—  to  say  nothing  of  his  expenses  for  sickness  and 
doctors'  fees,  &c.,  — and  he  will  find  that  he  can  have 
everything  necessary  to  keep  his  family  in  health,  raise 
all  his  children,  fully  developed  in  mind  and  body,  have 
every  luxury  necessary  to  enjoy  to  the  fullest  extent  all 
the  gustatory  pleasures  of  which  he  is  capable,  and  have 
money  left. 

But  what  if  there  should  be  trouble  and  expense  in 


80        DIFFICULTY  OF  OBTAINING  PURE  WATER. 

getting  the  necessary  means  of  preserving  health  and 
furnishing  all  these  blessings  to  his  family,  —  could 
trouble  and  expense  be  devoted  to  a  better  purpose? 
There  are  certainly  troubles  and  expenses  in  the  evils 
and  sufferings  resulting  from  indulgence  in  unnatural 
luxuries,  and  from  neglecting  to  furnish  food  and  drink 
which  are  free  from  unhealthy  qualities.  In  many  places 
there  is  more  trouble  in  obtaining  water  free  from  in- 
jurious elements  than  in  obtaining  food;  and  to  save 
this  trouble,  men  everyv^^here  blind  their  eyes  tp  the 
evils  resulting  from  bad  water,  and  make  themselves 
believe  that  however  others  may  suffer,  their  water 
is  well  enough;  but  all  physicians  know,  and  will 
testify,  that  any  water,  however  clear  and  apparently 
pure,  is  unhealthy,  and  causes  much  disease  and  suffer- 
ing, if  it  be  hard,  or  contain  any  earthy,  or  mineral,  or 
organic  combinations.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
pages  190-205.)  And  yet  almost  all  the  world  is 
drinking  such  water,  and  will  drink  it  till  it  is  abso- 
lutely undrinkable,  rather  than  take  the  trouble  to  get 
good  water. 

In  coral  islands,  where  no  drinkable  water  can  be 
had,  except  rain  from  the  clouds  directly,  and  where  it 
rains  only  a  small  part  of  the  time,  no  expense  is  spared 
in  catching  and  preserving  that  water,  and  I  have  seen 
arrangements  for  roofing  and  cementing  cisterns  for 
catching  and  preserving  that  water  which  cost  the  owner 
three  times  as  much  as  the  house  he  lived  in. 

It  seems  to  be  the  design  of  Providence,  that  not  only 
necessary  food,  but  pure  water,  should  be  had  only  by 


DIFFICULTY  OF  OBTAINING  PURE  WATER.  81 

the  sweat  of  the  face,  and  at  great  expense.  And  even 
the  air  we  breathe  is  kept  pure  and  healthful  in  cold 
climates  hy  care  and  expense  in  ventilation,  and  in 
warm  climates  by  care  and  expense  in  keeping  streets 
and  apartments  cleansed  from  vegetable  decomposition 
and  all  manner  of  impurities.  And  thus  food,  water, 
clothing,  pure  air,  and  all  our  blessings  are  furnished  us 
only  on  condition  that  we  work  for  them.  But  by  a  beau- 
tiful compensatory  provision,  our  health  and  happiness 
are  promoted  by  all  these  necessary  labors ;  and  they 
who  are  necessarily  most  constantly  employed  are  most 
vigorous  and  healthy,  mentally  and  physically,  as  well 
as  most  virtuous,  useful,  and  happy. 

Efere  we  have  the  secret  of  the  fact  that  the  rugged 
and  sterile  soil  of  New  England,  Scotland,  Switzer- 
land, and  other  cold  climates,  have  sent  forth  not  only 
the  muscles  but  the  virtues  and  the  brains  which  are 
needed  to  keep  .the  world  from  stagnation  and  death. 
Everywhere  the  world  over  that  people  are  most  intelli- 
gent, virtuous,  useful,  and  happy  who  are  most  constant- 
ly employed,  and  they  most  worthless  and  miserable  who 
have  most  leisure  time.  And  yet  our  national  legisla- 
ture have  adopted  the  eight-hour  system  of  labor,  giving 
all  the  mechanics  and  laborers  employed  in  every  de- 
partment of  government  work  half  their  waking  hours 
in  which  to  serve  the  devil,  who  always  finds  soma 
wicked  work  for  idle*  hands  to  do," 
6 


82       TASTE  AND  SMELL  PROTECT  THE  SYSTEM. 


TASTE  AKD  SMELL  PROTECT  THE  SYSTEM. 

We  have  seen  that  these  senses,  unperverted,  direct 
us  to  wholesome  food,  and  enable  us  to  enjoy  best  that 
which  is  best  for  us,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  discover 
and  defend  us  from  that  which  is  unwholesome  or 
poisonous.  For  example:  Good,  well  cooked  fish, 
while  it  is  fresh  and  wholesome,  is  invited  and  urged 
upon  us  by  these  senses ;  but  let  it  remain  but  for  a 
single  hour  in  a  hot  sun,  and  they  will  inform  us  dis- 
tinctly that  it  has  become  disorganized  and  unfit  for 
digestion;  and  while  unperverted  they  will  thus  always 
prove  guardian  angels  to  the  system. 

If  poisonous,  carburetted  hydrogen  gas  escapes  from 
our  fixtures,  even  to  the  smallest  extent,  how  soon  do 
our  olfactories  detect  it,  and  warn  us  of  its  danger  1  If 
a  drain  gets  obstructed,  and  its  contents  flow  back  into 
our  cellar  walls,  sending  its  deatA-dealing  gases  into 
our  apartments,  how  kindly  and  quickly  we  are  in- 
formed of  the  danger  by  the  sense  of  smell ! 

If  our  cellars  are  damp  and  un ventilated,  and  the 
fever  and  dysentery  producing  mould  gathers  on  the 
walls  and  furniture,  our  olfactories  never  fail  to  warn 
us  to  ventilate  and  remove  the  cause  of  dampness,  or 
we  shall  be  sure  to  be  sick  and  lose  our  children. 

From  such  facts  it  is  fair,  and  certainly  safe,  to  infer 


TASTE  AND  SMELL  PROTECT  THE  SYSTEM.  83 

that  every  offensive  smell  is  an  angel  of  mercy,  warning 
us  to  remove  or  avoid  some  evil  influence  connected 
with  it,  and  inducing  to  cleanliness  of  person,  and  care 
of  our  premises,  that  we  may  avoid  the  evils  that  are 
sure  to  follow  any  neglect  of  such  warnings.  The  im- 
portance of  this  subject  warrants  some  further  illustra- 
tions and  facts,  which  go  to  show  the  importance  of 
obeying  the  warning  of  the  sense  of  smell,  as  in  the 
cases  above  referred  to. 

The  Importance  of  obeying  the  Warnings  of  the  Sense 
of  Smell, 

From  disregard  to  the  testimony  of  this  sense  many 
a  man  has  been  made  sick  by  eating  fish,  or  other  food 
that  has  become  poisonous  by  the  commencement  of 
putrefaction  and  disorganization.  And  many  a  house- 
hold have  suffered  in  health,  and  have  even  been  suffo- 
cated, by  allowing  gas  to  escape  into  their  houses  and 
sleeping-rooms.  And  the  importance  of  neglecting 
obstructed  drains  and  mouldy  cellars  is  still  greater,  as 
is  shown  by  the  following  facts  :  — 

Some  years  since,  a  neglected  drain,  connected  with 
a  hotel  in  Washington,  caused  a  terrible  sickness,  that 
prostrated  for  weeks  some  scores  of  the  Congressmen 
and  most  valuable  citizens,  and,  after  a  lingering  sick- 
ness, the  death  of  seven  or  eight,  at  least.  And  a  simi- 
lar cause,  in  a  popular  ladies'  school  in  Pittsfield,  induced 
severe  and  protracted  sickness  in  many  of  the  ladies,  and 
the  death  of  some,  and  for  a  time  broke  up  the  estab- 
lishment. 


84   EVIPORTANCE  OF  OBEYING  THE  SENSE  OF  SMELL. 

Mould,  however  induced,  —  whether  eaten  in  cheese, 
or  mouldy  bread,  or  other  food,  or  breathed  in  the  infini- 
tesimal spora  that  are  diffused  from  it  in  the  atmosphere, 
 seems  to  be  the  source  of  a  great  variety  of  very  seri- 
ous diseases.  One  variety,  which  is  found  in  the  hold 
of  damp  and  badly-ventilated  ships,  is  proved  to  be  the 
cause  of  ship  fever,  which  is  often  very  fatal. 

Another  variety,  which  is  found  in  some  localities, 
formed  on  newly-stirred  earth,  is  the  cause  of  fever  and 
ague ;  and  in  one  place  at  one  time,  in  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, every  man  who  worked  in  digging  a  panal 
was  affected  with  it,  and  most  of  the  inhabitants  who 
lived  in  the  vicinity,  on  low  grounds,  were  also  affected  ; 
but  above  a  certain  elevation  all  escaped ;  and  on  ex- 
amination with  a  microscope,  spora  from  mould  on  the 
recently-made  banks,  too  fine  to  be  seen  by  the  naked 
eye,  were  found  floating  in  the  damp  evening  air  in 
every  house  where  those  slept  who  were  taken  with  the 
fever,  but  none  in  the  houses  on  a  higher  level,  where 
there  were  no  cases  of  fever. 

Other  varieties  of  mould,  in  cellars  and  damp  places, 
are  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  typhoid  fever,  endemic 
dysentery,  and  many  other  diseases  whose  origin  cannot 
otherwise  be  accounted  for.  These  facts  should  make 
us  afraid  of  all  moulds,  and,  indeed,  of  all  decomposed 
and  decomposing  materials,  whether  in  the  food  we  eat, 
or  in  our  dwellings,  or  even  in  our  vicinity,  where  they 
can  impart  to  the  air  a  deleterious  influence. 

As  corroborating  this  view  of  the  case,  it  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact,  that  in  New  Orleans,  with  more  people  in 


IMPORTANCE  OF  OBEYING  THE  SENSE  OF  SMELL.  85 

it  than  usual,  for  five  summers,  while  the  houses  and 
streets  were  kept  clean  and  clear  from  all  decomposing 

substances,  not  a  case  of  yellow  fever  occurred  an 

exemption  never  before  known;  and  this,  indeed,  is 
almost  proof  positive  that  yellow  fever  is  caused  by 
mould,  or  at  least  by  decomposition,  with  which  mould 
is  always  associated. 


86 


SENSE  OF  TASTE  A  GUARDIAN  ANGEL. 


SENSE  OF  TASTE  A  GUAEDIAN  ANGEL. 

We  have  seen  how  the  sense  of  smell  not  only  in- 
vites us  to  what  i^  good,  but  warns  us  against  what  is 
bad  for  us ;  and  we  shall  find  that  the  sense  of  taste 
was  given  for  similar  purposes.    It  not  only  dkects  us, 
as  we  have  seen,  to  articles  of  food  most  wholesome  at 
the  time,  and  renders  that  most  agreeable  that  is  best 
for  us,  but  it  also  gives  us  most  disgust  for  that  which 
would  be  most  injurious.    An  animal,  or  a  child,  with 
unperverted  tastes,  may  take  in  its  mouth  improper 
food,  or  a  poisonous  herb  or  drug,  but  it  wUl  be  im- 
mediately rejected,  and  the  more  dangerous  the  article 
the  more  vehemently  will  it  be  disposed  of.  Give 
either  of  them  a  particle  of  tobacco,  or  alcohol,  or 
opium,  or  any  other  drug,  and  you  need  not  be  in 
doubt  whether  these  articles  are  intended  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  system. 

This  argument,  together  with  the  fact  that  I  had 
never  seen  a  disgusting  drug,  or  an  offensive  article 
of  food,  do  anything  but  harm,  induced  me,  twenty-five 
years  since,  to  resolve  never  again  to  allow  a  particle 
of  food,  drink,  or  medicine,  that  was  offensive  to  the 
taste,  to  pass  my  lips.  And  I  never  have  broken  that 
resolution  ;  and  though  I  have  had  attacks  of  pam  and 
sickness,  as  everybody  else  has  had  who  has  disobeyed 


SENSE  OF  TASTE  A  GUARDIAN  ANGEL.  87 


the  laws  of  his  being,  yet  I  firmly  believe  I  have  not 
suffered  a  pain  more,  or  an  hour  of  sickness  longer,  for 
keeping  my  resolution. 

That,  in  health,  our  appetite  and  taste  are  intended 
to  direct  us  to  that  which  is  good  for  us,  and  to  protect 
us  from  that  which  is  bad,  in  man  as  well  as  in  brutes, 
is  admitted  by  all  intelligent  physicians ;  and  can  it,  at 
the  same  time,  be  true  that,  when  sick  and  suffering, 
our  heavenly  Father,  who,  "as  a  father,  pitieth  his 
children,"  should  intend  to  consign  us  to  disgusting 
drugs  for  relief?  That  he  should  furnish  us  at  all  with 
means  of  relieving  pains  and  sufferings  induced  by 
breaking  his  laws,  is  a  miracle  of  mercy.  But,  beyond 
a  question,  it  is  true  that  the  bitter  and  disgusting  weeds 
and  plants  of  the  field  each  contain  a  principle  adapted 
to  the  relief  and  cure  of  some  suffering  or  disease.  It 
is  also  true,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  a  law  is  given  us  by 
which,  without  dangerous  experiments  on  the  sick,  we 
can  ascertain  what  kind  of  pain  or  disease  the  remedial 
principle  of  each  herb,  or  plant,  or  drug,  is  adapted  to 
relieve. 

By  this  test,  the  remedial  virtues  of  some  four  hun-- 
dred  herbs, *and  plants,  and  drugs,  —  mineral,  vegeta- 
ble, and  animal,  —  have  been  already  developed  and 
proved,  more  or  less  perfectly;  and  every  one  of  them 
IS  found  to  do  its  work  of  mercy,  if  selected  with  judg- 
ment, with  unerring  certainty,  and  that  in  a  prepara- 
tion agreeable,  or,  at  least,  tasteless.  And  now  I  have 
come  firmly  to  believe,  that  if  any  pain  cannot  be  im- 
mediately relieved,  and   any  disease  cured,  without 


88  SENSE  OF  TASTE  A  GUARDIAN  A.STGEL. 


offensive  drugs,  it  is  for  want  of  knowledge  of  the 
right  medicine,  or  of  judgment  to  select  and  use  it 
according  to  Nature's  intentions.  And  this  arrange- 
ment is  in  perfect  accordance  with  Nature's  general 
plan,  giving  us  crude  materials  out  of  which,  by  the 
use  of  our  intellects,  to  prepare  medicines  —  just  as 
we  have  crude  materials  out  of  which  to  prepare  our 
food,  clothing,  &c. 

Thus  we  see  that  all  our  wants,  in  health  and  sick- 
ness, are  intended  to  be  supplied  without  offending  our 
natural  tastes  or  appetites.  The  elements  needed  to 
promote  the  growth,  health,  or  repair  of  the  system, 
can  be  had  in  the  grains,  fruits,  vegetables,  meats,  and 
medicines,  all  of  which  may  be  made  agreeable  to 
our  tastes ;  and  for  sick  children,  or  our  feeble  sons  and 
chlorotic  daughters,  we  need  not  resort  to  disgusting 
drugs,  as  iron,  or  phosphorus,  or  any  other  offensive 
medicine,  to  give  health  and  strength,  or  to  assist 
Nature  in  overcoming  disease. 


HOW  THE  TASTE  IS  PERVERTED. 


89 


TASTE  AND  APPETITE  PERVERTED. 

While  it  is  true,  as  we  have  just  explained,  that 
an  unperverted  taste  selects  what  is  useful,  and  rejects 
what  is  bad,  it  is  also  true  that  a  perverted  taste  often 
demands  what  is  injurious,  and  rejects  what  is  useful. 
We  need,  therefore,  a  test  by  which  to  try  that  sense. 
By  comparing  the  analysis  of  the  human  system  with 
analyses  of  different  articles  of  food,  as  given  in  the 
Philosophy  of  Eating,  we  see  that  the  grains,  vegeta- 
bles, and  meats,  in  their  natural  state,  all  contain  ,  the 
same  combination  of  elements  and  principles  as  are 
found  in  the  system.  And  we  have  elsewhere  seen 
that  the  unperverted  taste  of  a  child,  or  the  taste  of 
animals,  directs,  unerringly,  to  such  articles  as  contain 
these  elements  and  principles,  in  combinations  best 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  system.  * 

We  have  seen,  also,  that  nothing  is  needed  in  the 
system  but  the  elements  and  principles  which  are  found 
in  these  articles  of  natural  food,  except  pure  water, 
and,  perhaps,  salt.  That  taste,  therefore,  must  have 
been  perverted  which  demands,  or  relishes,  anything 
else  than  the' principles  thus  organized;  and,  to  prove 
it,  we  have  but  to  offer  any  such  articles  as  tobacco, 
alcohol,  opium,  or  any  crude  medicine,  to  a  child,  or 
to  any  animal,  and  see  with  what  disdain  it  is  rejected ; 


90  A  DRUNKEN  PIG. 

but  by  mixing  any  of  these  articles,  at  first  in  small 
quantities,  with  something  natural  and  agreeable,  both 
children  and  brutes  can  be  taught  to  relish  them.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  that,  if  left  to  themselves,  no 
brute  allows  his  taste  to  be  perverted  to  a  love  for 
anything  injurious;  but  if  once  induced  to  taste  any 
such  thing,  will  shun  it  ever  afterwards. 

1  shall  never  forget  the  example  of  a  hog  belonging 
to  my  father,  when  I  was  a  small  boy.  Some  cherries, 
which  had  been  soaked  in  rum,  to  extract  their  flavor, 
for  making  cherry-brandy,  were  thrown  into  his  pen, 
and  he  imprudently  ate  enough  to  make  him  "  glorious- 
ly drunk."  Staggering  about,  and  uttering  silly  grunts, 
he  behaved  as  ridiculously,  except  in  silly  talk,  as  any 
besotted  biped  of  the  genus  homo,  and,  finally,  tum- 
bled over,  and  went  asleep.  Being  amused  at  his 
ridiculous  behavior,  I  tried  to  induce  him,  afterwards, 
to  reenact  the  farce;  but  not  a  cherry  could  he  be 
induced  again  to  take. 


PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  91 


PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

When  we  consider  the  delicate  structure  of  the 
lungs,  and  the  gossamer  arrangement  of  air  and  blood 
vessels  in  which  the  air  and  the  blood  meet  to  perform 
their  important  vital  functions,  and  that  these  compli- 
cated operations  must  go  on,  day  and  night,  week  after 
week,  and  year  after  year,  for  a  lifetime,  without  stop- 
ping for  rest  or  repairs,  for  a  single  moment ;  that  the 
air  and  blood  furnished  them  are  often  impure ;  that 
the  chest  is  often  so  compressed  that  neither  air  nor 
blood  are  ever  permitted  to  enter  some  of  them,  and 
that,  consequently,  they  cannot  have  the  exercise  of 
their  functions  that  is  necessary  to  keep  them  in  health ; 
that  parts  of  them  are  so  often  exposed  to  changes  of 
temperature,  by  changes  of  dress,  &c. ;  that  their  tis- 
sues are  kept  weak,  for  want  of  strengthening,  ni- 
trogenous food,  and,  at  the  same  time,  overworked,  to 
dispose  of  extra  heating,  carbonaceous  food,  and,  some- 
times, excited  by  alcoholic  and  other  stimulants ;  that 
when  diseased  they  cannot  stop  to  rest,  and  be  cured ; 
that  means  used  for  cure  are  more  often  injurious  than 
beneficial,  and  that  disease,  when  once  engendered,  is 
perpetuated,  by  transmission,  from  one  generation  to 
another,  —  when  all  these  things  are  considered,  the 
wonder  is,  not  that  eighteen  or  twenty  deaths  in  every 


92       PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 


hundred,  in  all  the  civilized  world,  are  of  consumption, 
but  rather  that  enough  people  live,  anywhere,  to  per- 
petuate the  race.  Let  us  examine  each  of  these  sources 
of  weakness,  disease,  and  danger  to  the  lungs,  and  get, 
if  possible,  some  practical  lessons  from  such  exami- 
nations. 

The  delicate  Structure  of  the  Lungs,  and  the  important 
Processes  going  on  in  them. 

The  air  and  the  blood  meet  in  a  network  of  vessels,, 
so  fine  that  a  powerful  microscope  can  but  imperfectly 
reveal  its  delicacy  of  structure  ;  and  in  this  wonderfully 
delicate  network  are  constantly  carried  on  operations 
so  important  that  if,  for  a  single  moment,  they  stop, 
we  faint,  become  unconscious  and  helpless,  and,  if  they 
are  not  immediately  restored,  we  die.  In  them  oxygen 
is  uniting  with  effete  carbonaceous  matter,  removing 
it  from  the  system,  while  using  it  for  fuel  to  fur- 
nish animal  heat,  and,  at  the  same  time,  imparting 
other  important  influences  to  the  blood;  and,  what- 
ever the  condition  of  the  lungs  may  be,  these  func- 
tions must  be  carried  on  without  a  moment's  rest  for 
repairs. 

If  the  eye  becomes  inflamed,  it  is  rested  in  a  dark 
room  till  healed.  If  the  muscles  become  inflamed,  and 
rheumatic,  and  it  gives  us  pain  to  move  them,  we  lay 
them  up  for  repairs,  and  keep  them  at  rest  till  they  can 
be  moved  without  pain.  But  if  inflammation  attacks 
the  lungs,  and  breathing  becomes  difficult  and  painful, 
however  much  we  may  desire  to  rest  them,  they  must 


IMPURE  AIR  A  CAUSE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  93 


keep  steadily  on  with  their  work,  without  a  moment's 
rest,  and,  if  healed  at  all,  must  be  healed  while  hard 
at  work.  Another  source  of  embarrassment,  and 
cause  of  disease,  is  the  bad  material  with  which  the 
lungs  are  compelled  to  work. 

Impure  Air  and  Impure  Blood. 

That  carbonic  acid  gas  is  injurious  to  the  system, 
and  is  a  cause  of  consumption,  we  have  abundant 
proof,  and  that,  at  every  breath,  the  lungs  give  off 
this  gas,  in  place  of  the  oxygen  consumed,  is  known 
and  admitted  by  every  one  of  common  intelligence. 
It  is  estimated  that,  in  a  close  room,  without  ventila- 
tion, a  common-sized  man  consumes  the  oxygen,  and 
replaces  it  with  carbonic  acid  gas,  at  the  rate  of  one 
gallon  every  minute,  and,  if  he  has  access  to  no  other 
air,  will  only  live  as  many  minutes  as  there  are  gallons 
of  air  in  his  room.  Luckily,  it  is  not  possible  to  ex- 
clude all  external  air  from  our  apartments,  and,  there- 
fore, we  are  not  absolutely  suffocated  while  shut  up  in 
an  unventilated  room ;  but  when  we  remember  that 
every  breath  imparts  some  carbonic  acid  gas  to  the 
air,  we  can  understand  the  importance  of  constantly 
changing  the  air  in  which  we  live. 

And  this  importance  is  strongly  enforced  by  the  facts 
•  referred  to  in  the  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  336  — 
especially  the  experiment  in  the  Foundling  Hospital, 
and  the  Zoological  Gardens,  of  London,  where  the 
length  of  life  of  infants  and  of  monkeys  were  both 


94         IIVIPURE  AIR  A  CAUSE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

doubled  in  two  years,  by  a  new  system  of  ventilation ; 
and,  in  this  connection,  it  is  particularly  important  to 
notice  that  the  disease  from  which  both  infants  and 
monkeys  had  died  was  consumption. 

Here  we  have  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  con- 
sumption is  more  prevalent  in  cold  climates  than  in 
warm.  In  warm  climates,  the  houses  being  open,  the 
air  is  being  constantly  changed  and  purified,  while  in 
cold  weather,  since  fuel  has  become  expensive,  and 
open  fireplaces  have  been  discarded  and  close  stoves 
substituted  to  save  expenses  of  heat,  the  air  is 
breathed  over  and  over  again ;  and  even  in  houses 
of  the  rich,  ventilation  is  disregarded,  from  sheer 
negligence.  Many  families  also,  especially  among 
the  poor,  crowd  together  to  save  expense  of  heat, 
breathing  constantly  an  atmosphere  like  that  in  which 
the  infants  and  monkeys  referred  to  died,  before  im- 
proving ventilation. 

And  many  who  feel  it  to  be  duty  to  have  good  air 
in  the  daytime,  are  afraid  of  the  dampness  of  night  air. 
But  damp  air  is  not  generally  bad  for  the  lungs,  unless 
it  contains  some  malarious  influence.  Consumption  is 
certainly  no  more  prevalent  in  England  where  the  air 
is  moist,  than  in  New  England  where  it  is  comparatively 
dry.  And,  besides,  we  must  either  admit  the  night  air 
to  our  houses  and  sleeping  apartments,  or  breathe  over 
and  over  again  the  day  air  that  is  shut  up  there ;  and  ^ 
it  requires  but  a  moment's  reflection  to  determine  which 
is  best.  Another  source  of  weakness,  and  consequent 
disease  of  the  lungs,  is  — 


CGMPEESSION  OF  CHEST  CAUSES  CONSUMPTION.  95 

Compression  of  the  Chest  so  as  to  exclude  Air  from 
some  Parts  of  the  Lungs. 

The  universal  law,  that  every  organ  and  every  facul- 
ty must  be  exercised  to  acquire  and  retain  its  natural 
growth  and  vigor,  as  explained  in  Philosophy  of  Eat- 
ing, page  337,  pertains,  of  course,  to  the  lungs;  and 
the  importance  of  the  law  is  great  in  proportion  to  the 
importance  of  the  organs  to  which  it  pertains.  The 
lungs  are  contained  in  an  air-tight  chest,  to  which  no 
air  can  be  admitted  except  through  the  trachea^  or 
windpipe.  When  the  chest  is  expanded,  as  in  raising 
the  ribs  for  inspiration,  the  air,  of  course,  rushes  in  to 
fill  the  vacuum,  and  passes  through  the  trachea^  and 
its  ramifications,  called  bronchial  tubes  —  which  rami- 
fications, growing  smaller  and  smaller,  till  they  enter 
and  become  a  part  of  every  point  in  the  lungs,  admit 
the  air  to  every  part,  and  give  to  every  part  a  chance 
to  assist  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  purifying 
the  blood,  furnishing  heat,  &c. 

Now  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  the  fact  that  if  ftie 
ribs  are  tied  down,  or  in  any  way  prevented  from  being 
raised  to  the  fullest  extent  possible,  there  must  be  some 
parts  of  the  lungs  into  which  the  air  cannot  enter,  and 
which  must,  therefore,  remain  without  their  natural 
exercise. 

Very  few,  either  boys  or  girls,  are  so  dressed  from 
their  infancy  as  to  allow  access  of  air  to  every  part  of 
the  lungs  at  all  times ;  and  our  narrow-chested  daugh- 
ters, who  entertain  the  ridiculous  idea  that  a  narrow 


96     CARBONACEOUS  FOOD  CAUSES  CONSUMPTION. 

chest  and  small  waists  are  beautiful,  exclude  the  air 
constantly  from  a  considerable  portion  of  the  lungs,  and 
the  consequence  is,  as  it  must  be,  that  the  thin  edges, 
from  which  the  air  is  most  perfectly  excluded,  are 
always  the  first  parts  to  become  diseased :  so  that  when 
physicians  examine  the  lungs  and  find  these  thin  edges 
sound,  they  are  quite  sure  all  other  parts  are  sound. 
Another  cause  of  consumption  is  — 

Eating  too  much  Carbonaceous  Food, 

All  the  solid  tissues,  to  acquire  or  maintain  their 
health  and  strength,  or  to  have  recuperative  power  to 
resist  and  overcome  disease,  —  as  explained  in  Philoso- 
phy of  Eating,  page  16,  and  elsewhere, — must  be 
supplied  with  nitrogenous  food,  in  right  proportions,  con- 
stantly;  but  living  as  we  do,  and  bringing  up  our  chil- 
dren on  too  concentrated  carbonaceous  food,  as  I  have 
before  explained,  all  the  solid  tissues  become  weakened, 
and  with  them,  of  course,  the  membranous  framework 
of  the  lungs  ;  and  this  same  carbonaceous  food,  furnish- 
ing as  it  does  more  work  for  the  lungs  in  disposing  of 
this  extra  carbon,  overworks  them,  overheats  them,  and 
renders  them  more  liable  to  inflammatory  disease,  and 
also,  by  diminishing  their  recuperative  power,  renders 
them  less  able  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  it ;  and 
these  effects  are  increased  by  the  use  of  alcohol,  spices, 
and  other  stimulants.  Thus  the  effects  of  excessive  car- 
bon in  the  lungs  may  be  compared  to  excessive  coal  in 
a  grate,  which  burns  out  the  grate  while  it  furnishes 


CHANGES  OF  TEMPERATURE. 


97 


too  much  heat  to  the  apartments ;  and  this  comparison 
is  the  more  forcible  in  its  practical  application  when  we 
consider  that,  when  burned  out,  the  coal  grate  may  be 
renewed,  but  the  lungs,  when  once  destroyed,  are  gone 
forever,  and  with  them,  of  course,  the  whole  system. 
Another  cause  of  consumption  is  — 

The  Exposure  of  the  lungs  to  Changes  of  Temperature. 

The  point  or  apex  of  the  lungs  coming  up,  as  it  does, 
nearly  to  the  top  of  the  shoulder,  is  of  course  exposed 
to  all  the  changes  consequent  on  wearing  low-necked 
dresses,  exposing  it  almost  directly  to  the  cold,  and 
then,  perhaps,  within  .a  few  moments,  covering  it  with 
thick  furs ;  thus  at  one  time  repelling  the  blood  from 
the  delicate  structure  by  the  contraction  produced  by 
the  cold,  and  then  suddenly  inviting  it  by  the  expansion 
induced  by  heat. 

At  one  time  of  course  this  part  of  the  lung  is  shrivelled," 
so  that  very  little  blood  is  permitted  to  enter  it,  and  at 
another,  heated  and  expanded  so  that  it  is  engorged 
with  blood ;  and  that  these  changes  do  have  an  effect, 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  next  to  the  thin  edges,  which 
are  affected  from  causes  before  explained,  these  upper 
points  of  the  lungs  are  always  the  first  to  become  dis- 
eased in  ladies,  while  in  gentlemen,  who  usually  keep 
these  points  covered,*  they  are  not  more  often  found 
diseased  than  other  parts.  Another  difficulty  in  curing 
the  lungs,  when  diseased,  is  that^ — 
7 


98  MEANS  FOR  CURING  DISEASED  LUNGS. 


The  Means  recommended  for  curing  IMseased  Lungs 
are  more  often  Injurious  than  Beneficial. 

The  treatment  of  consumption,  till  recently,  by  the 
best  physicians,  has  been  merely  a  series  of  experi- 
ments ;  for  a  few  months,  by  the  recommendation  of 
some  celebrated  medical  man,  or  from  the  results  of 
some  apparent  cure,  using  one  set  of  remedies,  and 
then,  for  a  few  months  more,  all  going  ove:  to  the  plan 
of  some  other  celebrity,  and  using  something  else,  of 
perhaps  entirely  different  nature.  So,  at  least,  it  has 
been  for  the  last  forty  years,  since  I  have  been  carefully 
watching  them. 

At  one  time  all  the  best  physicians  gave  iron  to 
strengthen  the  lungs  and  general  system,  and  every 
chlorotic  girl,  and,  every  boy  with  weak  lungs,  all  over 
the  country  and  the  world,  were  taking  disgusting  iron 
pills  —  and  that  time  has  not  yet  fully  passed  away ; 
and  yet  Trousseau,  the  highest  authority  perhaps  in  the 
world  on  this  subject,  said,  some  years  ago,  that  "iron, 
in  any  form,  hastens  the  development  of  tubercles ; " 
and,  "  though  it  may  induce  a  factitious  return  to  health, 
and  the  physician  may  flatter  himself  that  he  has  cured 
the  patient,"  yet  "  to  his  surprise  he  will  find  the  patient 
soon  after  fall  into  a  phthisical  state,  from  which  there 
is  no  return." 

At  another  time,  Sir  Francis  Churchill  recommends 
phosphorus,  both  to  prevent  and  cure  consumption, 
thinking  that  phosphorus  is  the  element  wanted  for  weak 

I 

i 


PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION.  99 

lungs  —  and  all  the  doctors  go  into  the  use  of  phos- 
phorus;  but  the  doctor  soon  fends  out,  what  he  should 
have  known  before,  that  phosphorus  is  subject  to  the 
law  that  I  have  endeavored  to  explain,  that  all  active 
elements  are  injurious,  unless  organized  as  food  in  some 
plant  or  animal ;  or,  at  least  he  finds  that,  unless  great 
caution  is  used,  some  sad  results  are  sure  to  follow  the 
use  of  it ;  and  now  none  who  know  the  nature  of  phos- 
phorus, but  reckless  doctors  and  bread-making  chepi- 
ists  are  not  afraid  to  use  It. 

And  the  whiskey  and  cod-liver  oil,  which  have  been 
so  extensively  used,  and  still  are  so  fearfully  common, 
must  be  injurious,  although  they  may  sometimes  in- 
duce fatness  for  a  while,  unless  that  philosophy  shall 
prove  to  be  false  which  I  have  endeavored  to  advocate, 
that  it  is  not  heat  or  stimulants  that  are  wanted  in 
weak  or  consumptive  lungs,  but  nitrogenous  elements, 
that  shall  give  strength  to  the  tissues  and  power  to  the 
system  to  overcome  disease. 

These  opinions  are  corroborated  by  the  fact  now  un- 
derstood by  every  intelligent  physician,  that  whenever 
consumption  is  cured,  it  is  cured  by  the  recuperative 
power  of  Nature,  and  therefore  that  cannot  assist  in 
any  case  which  does  not  act  in  harmony  with  all  of 
Nature's  laws. 

And  now,  considering  all  these  predisp6sing  and  ex- 
citing causes  of  consumption,  and  adding  the  cause  of 
general  debility,  induced  by  want  of  exercise  in  our 
ladies  and  sedentary  men,  and  the  fact  that  consump- 
tion, like  every  disease,  may  be  transmitted  from  gen- 


100     PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

eration  to  generation,  each  becoming  more  degenerate 
as  long  as  they  live  in  disobedience  to  Nature's  laws, 
can  we  wonder  that  eighteen  or  twenty  deaths  in  the 
hundred  in  all  the  civilized  world  are  from  consump- 
tion? The  wonder  rather  is,  that  enough  live  to  per- 
petuate the  race.  And  yet,  if  we  carefully  review 
these  various  sources  of  consumption,  we  shall  find 
that  every  one  of  them  is  under  our  control  and  re- 
mediable, except,  perhaps,  the  delicacy  of  the  lungs  and 
the  necessity  for  their  constant  use,  and  even  these, 
with  the  recuperative  powers  acquired  by  living  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  our  being,  would  not  prevent  their 
remainino:  sound  durino^  the  time  of  our  natural  lives. 

This  is  seen  by  the  fact  that  other  animals,  with  simi- 
lar delicacy  of  organization,  while  permitted  to  obey 
their  natural  instincts,  have  not  diseases  of  the  lungs. 
Let  us  make  such  a  review. 

1.  Is  it  necessary  to  breathe  Impure  Air? 

With  all  the  knowledge  of  light,  heat,  and  the  atmos- 
phere which  science  now  imparts  to  us,  surely  we  can, 
if  w^e  will  but  take  the  trouble,  make  our  houses  liofht, 
warm,  and  comfortable,  and  have  pure  air  to  breathe 
every  moment,  night  and  day ;  and  we  can  always  avoid 
working  in  an  unventilated  room,  or  going  into  impure 
air,  so  as  always  to  breathe  air  with  plenty  of  oxygen, 
and  without  carbonic  acid  gas  ;  and  this  could  be  had  at 
an  expense  absolutely  insignificant  when  compared  with 
the  evils  which  are  induced  by  impure  air. 


THE  EVILS  OF  COMPRESSING  THE  CHEST.  101 


S.  Is  it  necessary  to  compress  tlie  Chest  so  as  to  ex- 
clude the  Air  from  any  Part  of  the  Lun^s  ? 

I  have  seen  a  lady  spend  more  than  an  hour,  daily, 
in  examining  her  house-plants,  to  see  if  no  twig  inter- 
fered with  any  other  twig ;  that  nothing  superfluous* 
remained,  and  nothing  was  wanted  to  develop  the 
leaves,  and  branches,  and  flowers  of  any  one.  And 
she  felt  rewarded  for  her  trouble  if  she  saw  them  grow- 
ing up  healthy,  symmetrical,  and  beautiful.  With  half 
that  time  devoted  to  her  children,  a  mother  could  be  sure 
that  no  form  of  dress,  no  string  or  belt,  no  habitual 
position  in  walking  or  standing,  should  interfere  with 
the  expansion  of  the  chest  to  its  fullest  extent,  so  that 
at  every  breath  the  air  would  be  admitted  to  every  part 
of  the  lungs  perfectly.  And  would  not  such  a  mother 
find  a  reward  in  the  blooming  health  of  her  daughters  ? 

I  had  hoped  that  increased  attention  to  hygienic  prin- 
ciples had  overcome  the  absurd  idea  that  a  small  waist 
is  beautiful  and  desirable ;  and  that  mothers  had  come 
to  consider  what  would  promote  the  health  cf  their 
daughters,  rather  than  what  would  suit  the  fancy  of 
addle-headed  girls  and  their  silly  companions. 

But  I  see,  by  a  sensible  notice  in  the  London  Spec- 
tator, that  a  book  has  recently  been  written  in  England 
devoted  to  the  artificial  production  of  the  old  spider 
waists  of  growing  girls ;  —  trying  to  induce  mothers 
to  mould  their  daughters  by  her  standard,  and  never 
allow  their  waists  to  measure  over  sixteen  inches ; 
giving  examples  where  fat,  plump  girls,  with  a  waist 


102      THE  EVILS  OF  COMPRESSING  THE  CHEST. 


of  twenty-five  or  thirty  inches,  had  been  reduced  to 
sixteen,  and  even  fourteen ;  and  giving  a  letter  from 
one,  in  which  she  says,  "All  my  torture  is  repaid  by 
the  admiration  I  excite ;  "  and  repeating  over  and  over 
ao^ain  that  abominable  falsehood  and  slander  on  men 
of  common  sense,  "Men  admire  taper  waists."  The 
man  that  admires  taper  waists,  with  the  feeble  frame, 
and  pallid  and  dingy  face  that  always  accompanies  it, 
must  be  as  silly  as  the  brainless  authoress  of  this  ri- 
diculous book.  Think  of  a  statue  of  Venus  de  Medicis 
reduced  in  the  waist  one  third  of  its  size  from  its  stan- 
dard twenty-five  inches  ;  or  just  for  a  moment  consider 
the  consequences  that  must  follow  from  reducing  the 
capacity  of  the  lungs,  aside  from  the  consequences  to 
the  lungs  themselves.  The  lungs,  of  course,  are  made 
of  the  right  capacity,  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the 
body,  to  enable  them  to  furnish  all  the  oxygen  that  is 
needed  to  give  life  and  vigor  to  the  system,  and  no 
more ;  all  the  animal  heat  that  is  required  to  keep  it 
in  healthful  glow,  and  no  more ;  and  to  remove  per- 
fectly from  the  system  the  effete  carbon,  which,  if  not 
removed,  makes  the  blood  impure,  causes  the  irregu- 
larities and  sufferings  so  common,  especially  to  the 
female  system,  and  renders  the  complexion  sallow  and 
dingy,  and  the  brain  sluggish  and  inactive. 

If  the  lungs  are  reduced  one  third,  therefore  one 
•  third  of  these  life  and  health  giving  inffaences  are  lost ; 
and,  accordingly,  in  just  the  proportion  as  the  lungs  are 
reduced,  we  find  cold  feet,  pains  in  tte  side  and  head, 
pallid  and  dingy  complexion,  with  the  fainting,  palpita- 


THE  EVILS  OF  COMPRESSING  THE  CHEST.  103 


tion,  languor,  and  listlessness  necessarily  following  — 
to  say  nothing  of  the  weaknesses,  pains,  and  irregu- 
larities of  the  abdominal  organs,  caused  by  pressure 
and  displacement  in  compressing  the  ribs.  And  these 
are  but  a  few  of  the  natural  and  inevitable  sufferings 
which  come  from  this  flagrant  sin,  aside  from  the  more 
direct  and  fatal  influences  on  the  lungs  themselves. 

O,  what  can  be  sadder  than  to  see  mothers,  in  en- 
lightened countries  like  England  and  America,  where 
physiology  is  taught  in  our  schools,  thus  sacrificing 
their  daughters  to  the  worse  than  heathenish  god  of 
fashion  and  false  taste  !  For  this  class  of  mothers 
there  is  no  hope ;  and  the  most  merciful  treatment  of 
them  is  to  consign  them  over  to  that  beneficent  law 
of  Nature  that  makes  it  impossible,  beyond  a  certain 
limit,  for  such  consummate  folly  to  perpetuate  itself. 
Very  few  such  devotees  of  fashion  live  long  enough, 
or  have  sufficient  strength,  to  perpetuate  their  race. 

But  there  is  a  class  of  erring  mothers  who  are  worth 
saving,  and  for  whom  there  is  hope  —  those  who  neg- 
lect their  children  from  mere  thoughtlessness  ;  whose 
mothers  allowed  them  to  dress  as  they  pleased,  and 
who,  in  consequence,  may  have  suflPered  a  thousand 
ills  and  pains,  but  not  having  given  the  subject  thought 
sufficient  to  trace  these  ills  to  their  causes,  and  being 
still  alive,  think  they  do  their  duty  to  their  children  if 
they  follow  the  footsteps  of  their  mothers  ;  but  who, 
if  once  made  to  see  their  error,  and  its  dangerous 
consequences,  would  be  ready  to  do  their  duty,  and 
thus  save  their  children,  and  improve  their  race. 


104    HOW  TO  IMPROVE  THE  FORM  OF  THE  CHEST. 

For  the  benefit  of  such  mothers,  I  have  pointed  out 
some  of  the  evils  that  might  be  avoided  by  allowing 
the  lungs  to  be  free,  so  as  to  be  filled  perfectly  at  every 
breath.  And  is  it  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  young 
mothers  of  intelligence  and  education,  or  even  of  com- 
mon sense,  can  be  made  to  feel  their  responsibility  in 
this  matter,  and  be  induced  to  set  early  about  training 
their  children,  remembering  that  it  is  even  more  true 
in  the  nursery  than  in  the  garden,  that  "as  the  twig 
is  bent  the  tree's  inclined"? 

The  gardener  who  desires  a  symmetrical  tree,  sees 
that  the  little  sapling  is  left  free  from  the  obstructions 
of  weeds  or  shrubs,  so  that  it  can  grow  naturally ;  and 
if  he  neglects  this  precaution,  he  is  sure  to  have  a  tree 
deformed  and  unsightly,  as  well  as  unfruitful  and  use- 
less. And  shall  mothers  allow  ignorant  nurses  to  put 
on  the^first  dress  of  their  little  plastic  infants  with 
strings  and  bands,  so  compressing  it  that  not  the  lungs 
only,  but  every  internal  organ  is  forced  out  of  its  natu- 
ral position,  and  never,  for  a  single  day,  allow  those 
organs  to  assume  their  natural  position?  The  ribs 
being  turned  inward,  of  course  grow  in  that  direction, 
compressing  the  lungs,  and  excluding  the  air  from 
them ;  and  a  chest  thus  compressed  at  first  will  never 
expand  naturally,  even  though  corsets  should  never  be 
applied  to  them. 

Still,  mothers  who  wake  up  to  the  importance  of  this 
matter,  when  too  late  to  take  the  first  step  in  the  right 
direction,  need  not  despair,  if  they  will  but  do  right 
afterwards,  for  Nature  has  wonderful  powers  to  over- 


DANGEE  OF  EXPOSING  NECK  AND  SHOULDERS.  105 

come  difficulties,  if  she  only  have  a  fair  chance.  And 
they  should  be  encouraged  in  this,  as  in  other  efforts 
at  obedience.  If  they  cannot,  in  their  circumstances, 
obtain  perfect  exemption  from  all  the  evils  described 
as  consequent  on  compressing  the  chest  and  exchiding 
the  air,  they  will  be  rewarded  by  success  proportionate 
to  their  efforts ;  and  if,  in  addition  to  these  efforts,  they 
shall  impress  their  children  with  the  importance  of  this 
matter,  the  next  generation  will  be  greatly  improved, 
both  in  beauty  of  form  and  vigor  of  constitution. 

Why  need  the  Lungs  be  exposed  to  Cold  externally? 

Here,  again,  you  encounter  the  tyranny  of  fashion. 
And  it  is  useless  to  preach  to  its  devotees.  What  do 
they  care  for  the  fact  that  the  point  of  the  lungs  ex- 
posed by  low-necked  dresses  soon  become  diseased? 
Abiding  by  their  motto,  "  as  well  out  of  the  world  as 
out  of  the  fashion,"  they  take  each  alternative  ;  flitting, 
perhaps,  like  a  butterfly,  for  a  single  season,  in  some 
fashionable  watering-place,  and  then,  having  taken  the 
other  alternative  of  their  motto,  are  missing.  But, 
luckily  for  the  world,  they  die  too  soon  to  be  able  to 
transmit  their  folly  to  another  generation. 

But  there  are  those  who  are  more  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  their  children  than  to  the  fashions  and  fol- 
lies of  life.  Such  need  but  to  be  shown  the  danger  of 
any  custom  in  order  to  abandon  it.  For  such  I  am 
encouraged  to  write,  with  the  hope  that,  showing  them, 
as  I  have;,  thp  poiisequences  of  exposirg  any  part  of 


106     HOW  TO  AVOID  TOO  CARBONACEOUS  FOOD, 

the  body,  and  especially  the  delicate  lungs,  at  one 
time  to  the  open  air,  and  at  another  covering  them 
with  thick  woollens  and  furs,  and  that  such  habits 
cannot  but  diminish  the  chances  of  life,  they  will  dress 
their  children  in  accordance  with  laws  of  health,  rather 
than  with  those  of  fashion. 

How  shall  we  avoid  too  Carbonaceous  Food? 

This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  difficult  question. 
To  resist  the  importunities  of  a  kind-hearted  old  grand- 
mother, with  her  pockets  fall  of  peppermints,  is  not  an 
easy  task  for  an  affectionate  daughter.  She  always 
gave  them,  as  well  as  cakes,  and  pies,  and  good  white 
bread  and  butter,  to  her  children,  and  they  did  well. 
Ask  her  what  is  to  be  understood  by  doing  well,  and 
you  will  find,  p^'haps,  that  three  out  of  six  lived  to 
grow  up ;  and  those  who  lived,  not  having  had  a  fever 
more  than  once  a  year,  or  the  colic  more  than  once  a 
week,  and  only  such  other  diseases,  and  pains,  and 
sufferings  as  it  is  natural  foj  children  to  have,  she 
thinks  they  really  did  well. 

The  grandchildren,  therefore,  are  allowed  a  very 
little  of  cake  or  confectionery,  with  the  determination, 
perhaps,  never  to  permit  enough  to  do  them  any  harm ; 
but,  having  once  commenced,  perverted  appetite  comes 
in  to  increase  the -difficulty,  and  the  importunities  of 
the  child  being  added  to  those  of  grandmothers  and 
friends,  the  young  mother  falls  into  the  habits  of 
others,  trying  all  the  time  to  make  herself  believe  that 


HOW  TO  AVOID  DANGEROUS  IVIEDICINES.  107 

it  must  be  right  and  safe  to  do  as  every  one  else  is 
doing.  And  if  she  ever  wakes  up  to  a  sense  of  her 
terrible  responsibility,  it  is  only  when  some  inflamma- 
tory disease  has  taken  away  her  idol,  or  consumption 
has  fixed  on  it  its  fatal  seal. 

But  if  mothers  can  be  made  to  realize  the  trutli,  that 
children  are  liable  to  inflammatory  diseases,  and  espe- 
cially diseases  of  the  lungs,  in  proportion  as  they  use 
heating  and  stimulating  food,  of  which  butter,  sugar, 
and  fine  flour  are  the  principal  articles  in  common  use, 
and  that  they  lose  the  recuperative  power  to  overcome 
these  diseases  by  the  same  means,  these  articles  taking 
the  place  of  the  strength-giving  nourishment  of  natural 
food,  it  seems  to  me  they  must  break  away  from  all 
such  restraints  of  custom,  and  make  it  their  first  and 
highest  duty  to  attend  to  the  health  of  their  children. 

How  can  we  know  what  Medicines  to  give  and  what 
to  avoid? 

If  it  be  true,  as  I  think  I  have  proved  it  to  be,  that 
no  one  article  of  medicine  is  conceded  to  be  useful  in 
consumption  by  all,  or  even  a  majority  of  educated 
physicians  ;  and  if  it  be  also  true,  as  it  certainly  is, 
that  all  active  medicines  are  conceded  to  be  injurious 
if  not  useful,  one  important  point  can  be  easily  settled 
by  every  intelligent  man  or  woman,  viz.  :  No  active 
medicine  should  ever  be  taken  with  a  view  to  cure 
consumption,  for,  according  to  the  highest  medical 
authority,  it  will  be  sure  to  do  harm,  while  its  chance 


108       HOW  TO  AVOID  DANGEROUS  MEDICINES. 

of  doing  good  is  very  small.  And  this  is  true,  not 
only  of  the  empirical  nostrums  so  extensively  adver- 
tised, but  also  of  disagreeable  drugs,  however  scien- 
tifically prepared. 

That  iron,  which  is  so  extensively  used  as  a  strength- 
ening medicine,  is  not  permanently  useful,  but  very 
danp-erous,  is  asserted  on  the  authority  of  Trousseau, 
than  whom  there  is  no  higher  medical  authority,  who 
denounces  the  use  of  it  as  "criminal  in  the  highest 
degree."  That  phosphorus,  which  was  first  introduced 
for  the  cure  of  consumption  by  Sir  Francis  Churchill, 
and  which  has  been  extensively  prescribed  in  this  coun- 
try and  Europe,  is  only  temporarily  useful,  and  perma- 
nently injurious,  is  asserted  on  the  authority  of  two 
celebrated  German  chemists,  Wochler  and  Frenich, 
who  say  that  "  phosphorous  acid  has  a  poisonous  eflfect 
on  the  system  analogous  to  arsenic." 

That  alcohol,  which,  in  the  form  of  whiskey,  and  in 
other  forms,  is  now  prescribed  by  hundreds  of  physi- 
cians, is  not  even  temporarily  useful,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  permanently  injurious,  is  asserted  on  the  high- 
est medical  authority,  including  Dr.  Bell  of  New  York, 
who  has  devoted  much  time  to  the  investigation  of  this 
subject ;  who  is  corroborated  by  Professor  Carpenter  of 
the  London  University,  who  says,  "  Alcoholic  liquors 
do  not  mitigate  the  morbid  effects  of  tubercle  upon  the 
svstem,  in  any  stage  of  the  disease,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, their  use  predisposes  to  tubercular  deposition." 

All  the  best  physicians  now  agree  that  when  con- 
sumption is  cured,  as  it  often  is,  even  after  it  is  con- 


HOW  TO  AVOID  DANGEROUS  MlEDICINES.  109 

firmed,  it  is  cured  by  the  medical  power  of  Nature. 
And  those  whom  I  esteem  the  best  also  agree  that  no 
medicines  can  assist  Nature,  except  such  as  are  pre- 
pared in  an  agreeable,  or,  at  least,  inoffensive  form; 
but  that  in  such  a  form  medicines,  judiciously  selected, 
administered  either  in  the  usual  way  or  by  inhalation, 
do  not  only  palliate  uncomfortable  symptoms,  but  often 
'suspend  the  disease,  even  after  ulceration  has  taken 
place,  and  the  lungs  heal  up  with  a  loss,  perhaps,  of 
part  of  their  substance.  Of  such  cases  I  have  seen 
very  many.  By  the  exercise  of  reason,  then,  we  can 
avoid  medicines  that  will  do  us  or  our  children  harm, 
and  can  form  some  opinion  of  the  class  of  medical  ad- 
visers from  whom  to  seek  assistance. 

If  those  who  make  medicine  their  life-study,  and 
learn  the  nature  of  all  medicines  and  all  diseases, 
know  so  little,  and  so  often  do  wrong,  how  dare  we 
trust  our  lives  and  those  of  our  precious  children  in  the 
hands  of  quacks,  who  know  nothing  of  the  human  sys- 
tem, nothing  of  the  healing  power  of  Nature,  and 
nothing  of  medicine,  except  one,  and  nothing  of  that 
only  that  people  have  got  well  while  using  it,  but  do 
not  know,  as  intelligent  physicians  know,  that  they  got 
well  in  spite  of,  and  not  on  account  of,  the  medicines 
given  ? 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  chances  of  getting 
a  medicine  adapted  to  our  particular  condition  at  a 
given  time,  by  taking  it  merely  on  the  recommenda- 
tion that  it  relieved  somebody  else  supposed  to  be  in 
the  same  condition.    There  are  thousands  of  medicinal 


110 


HOW  TO  USE  MEDICINES. 


principle's  found  in  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  sub- 
stances ;  indeed,  everything  not  containing  elements 
and  combinations  adapted  for  food,  either  for  man  or 
some  other  living  creature,  seems  to  contain  a  principle 
adapted  to  the  relief  of  some  pain,  or  to  assist  Nature 
in  relieving  some  morbid  condition  of  the  human  sys- 
tem. 

No  two  medical  principles  have  exactly  the  same 
effect,  or  are  adapted  to  relieve  precisely  the  same 
symptoms  or  conditions  ;  and  Nature  has  furnished  us 
a  test  by  which,  without  experimenting  on  the  sick,  we 
can  judge  what  symptoms  or  conditions  the  medical 
principle  of  any  crude  substance  is  adapted  to  relieve. 
Let  any  number  of  healthy  men  or  women  —  the  more 
the  better  —  take  each  an  equal  portion  of  any  crude 
drug  or  vegetable,  having  any  taste  or  active  proper- 
ties, and  carefully  note  the  effects,  or  symptoms,  that 
follow  in  a  given  time,  and  they  will  be  sure  to  find, 
on  comparing  notes,  that  at  least  three  fourths  of  all 
who  try  the  experiment  will  have  some  of  the  same 
symptoms  or  effects,  varying  according  to  age,  sex, 
and  temperament:  and  those  of  similar  age,  and  sex, 
and  temperament  will  have  had  a  similar  modification 
of  symptoms. 

Now  let  the  least  appreciable  particle  of  the  drug  or 
vegetable  thus  tested  be  given  to  these  or  any  other 
individuals  of  similar  age,  sex,  and  temperament,  when- 
ever pains  or  sickness,  or  other  symptoms  occur,  simi- 
lar to  those  produced  by  the  drug  or  vegetable  in  the 
experiment  described,  and  it  will  be  sure  to  relieve  such 


HOW  TO  SELECT  MEDICINES.  Ill 

pains  or  symptoms.  Experiments  of  this  kind  have 
been  repeated  thousands  of  times,  and  the  principles 
involved  are  established  as  firmly  as  any  philosophical 
principles  ever  were  or  ever  can  be  established. 

In  this  manner  have  been  tested  and  recorded  the 
symptoms  produced  by  over  four  hundred  different  arti- 
cles of  medicine,  and  experiments  are  going  on  every 
day  under  the  superintendence  of  some  educated  physi- 
cian, in  this  and  every  civilized  country  in  the  world ; 
and  the  field  of  investigation  is  so  vast  that  these  ex- 
periments may  go  on  for  centuries  without  fully  bring- 
ino;  out  all  the  medical  resources  of  the  world,  and 
probably  without  finding  any  two  medicines  adapted  to 
cure  precisely  the  same  set  of  symptoms. 

Another  fact  has  also  been  established  by  experi- 
ment, which  at  first  astonished  the  doctors,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  is  proved  to  be  true  by  experiments  suffi- 
cient in  number  and  accuracy  to  establish  any  truth, 
however  unreasonable  it  might  at  first  appear  to  be. 
This  medical  principle  resides  in  every  atom  of  matter 
of  which  any  drug  is  composed,  and  exerts  an  influence 
in  the  cure  of  disease  in  the  smallest  particle  in  which 
the  drug  can  be  subdivided,  as  really  if  not  as  surely 
as  in  massive  doses,  but  with  this  important  difference : 
large  doses  of  any  active  medicine  may,  if  rightly  se- 
lected, exert  some  remedial  influence;  but  its  good 
effects  are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  harm 
produced  on  the  principle  already  explained  (see 
Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  160-167)  ;  while  doses 
almost  infinitely  small,  if  rightly  selected,  produce  the 
remedial  influence  without  the  evil. 


112 


HOW  TO  SELECT  MEDICINES. 


Then  consider  how  difficult  it  is  to  determine  that  a 
medicine  is  suitable  for  a  given  case,  on  account  of  the 
fact  that  it  did  good  in  some  other  case.  How  often,  in 
case  of  cough,  for  example,  we  hear  a  certain  article 
recommended  because  some  other  case  of  cough  had 
been  helped  by  it ;  but  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty, 
on  being  tried,  it  fails,  and  for  this  reason  :  there  are 
more  than  twenty  articles  of  medicine  that  produce 
cough,  as  has  been  proved  by  experiment;  but  each 
one  produces  a  cough  differing  in  some  respects  from 
the  cough  produced  by  either  of  the  other  twenty  differ- 
ent medicines,  and  each  will  cure  its  own  peculiar 
cough,  but  no  other.  If,  then,  we  take  either  of  these 
twenty  medicines  at  hazard,  we  shall  have  but  one 
chance  in  twenty  of  getting  a  benefit  from  it. 

Now  suppose  twenty  persons  are  induced  by  an  ad- 
vertisement of  a  sure  cure  for  cough,  to  try  the  medi- 
cine, and  one  of  them  is  cured,  while  the  nineteen  are 
made  worse,  and  some  perhaps  fatally  injured  by  it. 
The  nineteen  will  keep  still,  being  ashamed  of  their 
folly ;  but  the  twentieth  will  tell  all  his  friends  and  the 
advertiser,  and  get  his  name  added  to  the  list,  to  prove 
the  remedy  a  sure  cure. 

But  a  skilful  physician,  who  knew  the  characteristics 
of  the  cough  which  each  of  the  twenty  medicines  is 
adapted  to  cure^  would  recommend  at  once  the  right 
medicine. 

We  see,  then,  how  it  is  that  more  harm  than  good  is 
done  by  medicines  as  usually  administered,  and  how 
the  good  can  be  secured  and  the  harm  avoided. 


HEREDITARY  CONSUMPTION. 


113 


Hereditary  Consumption  not  necessarily  fatal. 

It  is  certainly  a  sad  truth  that  "  the  iniquities  of  the 
fathers  are  visited  upon  the  children  to  the  third  and 
fourth  generation,"  but  it  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  the 
consequences  of  any  transgressions  of  physical  or  vital 
laws  do  not  stop  with  the  transgressor ;  and  yet  there 
is  great  relief  in  the  reflection,  that  except  in  congenital 
deformities,  and  organic  diseases  which  are  very  rare,  all 
that  is  inherited  is  a  latent  tendency  to  disease,  which 
will  never  be  developed  if  the  child  is  brought  up  in 
strict  obedience  to  Nature's  laws,  and  that  tendency 
wall  become  weaker  and  weaker  till  it  is  eradicated  from 
the  system,  or  stronger  and  stronger  till  developed  into 
fatal  disease,  as  we  obey  or  disobey  the  laws  of  life ; 
so  that,  after  all,  each  generation  is  responsible  for  its 
own  diseases.  There  is  evidence  abundant  that  strong 
hereditary  tendencies,  and  even  the  development  of 
gout,  apoplexy,  and  consumption,  have  been  overcome 
and  eradicated  by  strict  adherence  to  the  laws  of  life. 
(See  chapter  on  Apoplexy.) 

Let  us  now  sum  up  the  evidence  in  regard  to  the 
prevention  and  cure  of  consumption,  and  ask  from  the 
common  sense  of  community  a  verdict  on  the  question 
under  discussion,  —  a  question,  I  venture  to  say,  which 
is  more  important,  and  interests  more  peopb,  than  any 
other  question  pertaining  to  this  life. 
8 


114  CONSUMPTION  CAN  BE  PREVENTED. 

•  * 

Is  it  necessary  that  one  fifth  of  our  Race,  or  any 
considerable  Part  of  that  Number,  should  be  sac- 
rificed to  Consumption? 

The  extremely  delicate  structure  of  the  lungs,  and 
the  arduous  and  important  functions  which  they  cease- 
lessly perform,  might  seem  to  render  it  impossible  that 
week  after  week,  and  year  after  year,  such  delicate  and 
complicated  machinery  could  be  kept  in  repair ;  but 
we  see  that  other  animals,  with  lungs  as  delicate  and 
functions  as  important,  do  have  perfect  lungs  to  the 
end  of  life,  if,  according  to  their  own  instincts,  they 
are  permitted  to  obey  the  laws  of  life ;  and  it  surely 
cannot  be  possible  that  man,  the  crowning  glory  of 
creative  power,  should  have  been  provided  with  less 
perfect  lungs,  or  less  recuperative  power,  than  the 
brute.  Imperfectly  constructed  lungs  cannot,  there- 
fore, necessarily  cause  consumption,  and  never  do  so  if 
their  natural  recuperative  power  is  preserved  by  obe- 
dience to  the  laws  of  life. 

One,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  predisposing  cause  of 
consumption,  is  breathing  carbonic  acid  gas  in  unven- 
tilated  apartments,  as  is  clearly  proved  by  facts  to 
which  I  have  already  referred ;  but  immersed,  as  every 
dwelling  is,  in  a  fountain  of  pure  air  forty  miles  deep, 
pressing  on  every  side,  and  forcing  itself  it  to  every 
crevice,  and  kept  out  of  any  room  only  by  force", 
surely  it  is  our  fault  if  we  do  not  have  pure  air  night 
and  day. 


CONSUMPTION  CAN  BE  PREVENTED.  115 

Another  predisposing  cause  of  consumption  we  have 
seen  to  be  the  exclusion  of  air  from  the  thin  edges  of 
the  lungs,  by  compressing  the  chest  in  the  common 
mode  of  dressing  infants,  girls,  and  fashionable  ladies, 
thus  preventing  the  natural  exercise  of  the  parts  in- 
volved, and  causing  them  to  become  weak,  and  ready, 
like  all  other  enfeebled  organs,  to  take  on  a  disease  from 
the  first  cold,  or  other  exciting  cause.  And  is  it  asking 
too  much  of  mothers,  who  value  their  children  above 
all  earthly  treasures,  to  avoid  this  prolific  source  of 
consumption,  by  seeing  to  it  that,  from  the  day  of  their 
birth  till  they  pass  away  from  their  responsibility,  every 
part  of  the  lungs  of  every  child  shall  at  all  times  be 
supplied  with  pure  air? 

Another  predisposing  cause  of  consumption  is  the 
alternate  exposure  to  heat  and  cold  of  the  upper  points 
of  the  lungs,  in  consequence  of  dressing  children  and 
girls  with  low-necked  dresses,  and  at  one  time  exposing 
these  delicate  organ's  almost  to  the  direct  influence  of 
the  cold,  and  at  another  sweating  them  under  thick 
furs ;  and  surely  no  mother  of  common  intellect  can 
fail  to  see  the  unutterable  folly  of  the  excuse  for  which 
they  thus  sacrifice  their  children. 

There  is,  however,  a  prolific  predisposing  cause  of 
consumption  more  difficult  to  avoid,  on  account  of  the 
fixed  habits  of  society  —  that  is,  weakness  of  the  tissues 
of  the  lungs,  and  of  the  general  system,  induced  by 
too  much  heating,  carbonaceous  food,  and  too  little 
strengthening,*  nitrogenous,  and  phosphatic  food,  as 
has  been  explained  in  a  preceding  chapter,  and  also 


116      PREDISPOSING  CAUSES  OF  CONSUMPTION, 

in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  133—136.  And  yet 
I  solemnly  believe  that  any  child  whose  mother  has 
furnished  it  requisite  elements  for  a  perfect  organiza- 
tion, and  who  has  always  had  suitable  elements  for 
keeping  the  system  in  a  healthy  condition,  without 
extra  carbonaceous  food,  or  other  injurious  elements 
or  influences,  will  not  only  not  be  predisposed  to  con- 
sumption, but  will  have  recuperative  powers  sufficient 
to  overcome  all  other  predisposing  or  exciting  causes 
of  this  terrible  disease. 

If  mothers  could  be  made  to  realize  the  responsibility 
which  this  fact  places  upon  them,  they  would,  notwith- 
standing the  embarrassaaents,  overcome  all  difficulties, 
however  great,  and,  breaking  away  from  the  starch 
and  grease-eating  customs  of  society,  would  say,  with 
Joshua  of  old,  "As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve 
the  Lord"  —  by  obeying  his  laws  of  life.  And,  as  a 
reward  for  such  service,  they  would  enjoy  pleasures  in 
eating  to  which  they  had  been  strangers  before,  and 
also  of  seeing  their  children  growing  up  in  the  beauty 
of  perfect  health. 

But  no  one  lives  and  sins  not ;  and,  in  consequence 
of  neglecting  some  of  these  plain  laws  of  life,  pains  in 
the  side,  and  cough,  and  inflammation  of  the  lungs 
will  occur.  And  it  may  not  be  easy,  in  such  cases, 
to  resist  the  importunities  of  friends  to  take  some 
medicine  advertised  as  sure  cure  for  all  pains-  and  dis- 
eases, and,  of  course,  adapted  to  just  such  a  case^  or 
which  some  friend  had  taken,  and  afterwards  got  bet- 
ter—  most  likely  in  spite  of  it.    But  if  it  be  true,  as 


DANGER  OF  A  VACILLATING  COURSE.  117 


I  firmly  believe  and  think  I  have  shown,  that  there  are, 
at  least,  nineteen  chances  of  doing  harm  to  every  one 
of  doing  good,  surely  they  are  safest  who  trust  to  the 
recuperative  powers  of  Nature,  with  such  harmless 
medicines  as  Nature  provides,  and  gives  us  the  means 
of  testing,  without  these  dangerous  experiments  on  the 
sick. 

Let  any  careful  observer  watch  the  progress  of  dis- 
ease in  the  two  classes  of  patients, — the  one  who  resorts 
to  every  expedient  recommended  by  every  interested 
friend,  trying  to-day  one  kind  of  medicine,  and  to- 
morrow another  entirely  different  in  character  and 
effects,  going,  in  fitful  mood,  first  to  this  doctor  and 
then  to  that  quack,  without  giving  either  time  to  do 
anything  but  harm,  and  the  other  class  who  use  their 
reason  and  common  sense  in  the  treatment  of  them- 
selves and  their  children,  —  and  they  will  not  fail  to 
see  these  opinions  corroborated. 

Those  who  shift  from  expedient  to  expedient,  taking 
everything  recommended,  and  dping  everything  that 
anybody  ever  did  in  the  incipient  stages  of  consump- 
tion, are  sure  to  go  down,  as  Nature  has  no  chance 
to  exert  her  restorative  power ;  while  those  who  pursue 
a  rational  course,  and  adopt  the;  simple,  harmless,  and 
efficient  means  which  Nature  has  provided,  if  not  neg- 
lected too  long,  are  quite  sure  to  recover,  even  now 
while  the  best  of  us  know  so  very  little  of  Nature's 
powers  and  resources. 

I  have  patients  in  whose  lungs  have  been  tuberculous 
deposits  for  years,  and  some  of  whom  were,  when  I 


118 


AN  EXTRAOKDINARY  CASE- 


first  saw  them,  as  really  in  consumption  as  their  sisters 
or  other  members  of  their  family  had  been  but  a  few 
months  before  their  death ;  and  yet,  by  following  sug- 
gestions like  those  before  indicated,  they  have  enjoyed 
comfortable  health  for  years,  and  have  not  been  obliged 
to  deprive  themselves  of  any  substantial  comforts  or 
reasonable  pleasures,  except,  perhaps,  occasionally 
when  cough,  soreness  of  the  lungs,  and  pain  in  breath- 
ing are  induced  by  some  exposure  to  cold,  or  other 
imprudence,  and  these  attacks  are  soon  and  easily 
relieved  by  being  properly  attended  to  at  once.  And 
I  have  come  firmly  to  believe  that  all  cases  of  con- 
sumption, short  of  disorganization  of  the  lungs,  which 
render  them  incapable  of  performing  the  functions 
necessary  to  sustain  life,  and,  indeed,  all  other  dis- 
eases of  which  the  human  system  is  susceptible,  are 
curable. 

And  the  amount  of  disorganization  that,  by  strict 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  life,  can  be  endured  and  over- 
come, is  almost  incredible.  An  intelligent  young  lady, 
the  wife  of  a  poor  clergyman,  came  to  me  from  the 
country,  eight  years  ago,  with  on^  side  of  the  chest 
collapsed,  and  one  lung  so  far  absorbed,  or  hardened, 
that  not  a  particle  of  air  could  enter  it,  and  the  other 
main  lobe  inflamed  and  .bestudded  with  tubercles  in  its 
edges  and  apex. 

I  had  not  the  slightest  expectation  of  her4iving  but 
a  few  weeks;  but,  nevertheless,  gave  such  directions 
an<i  medicine  as  seemed  to  be  indicated.  In  five  or 
six  weeks  she  returned,  greatly  relieved  of  her  cough 

\ 


AN  EXTKAORDINARY  CASE,  119 

and  inflammatory  symptoms,  but  still  panting  like  a 
frightened  pigeon,  breathing,  at  least,  four  times  more 
rapidly  than  natural. 

With  the  hopes  of  prolonging  life  for  a  while,  and 
enjoying  as  much  comfort  as  possible,  she  resolved  to 
live  on  just  such  food  and  adopt  such  hygienic  meas- 
ures as  I  recommended.  And  I  never  saw  her  after- 
wards ;  but  have  recently  learned  that  she  is  not  only 
still  living,  but  enjoys  comfortable  health ;  and,  if  care- 
ful not  to  overdo,  or  otherwise  do  wrong,  is  able  to 
attend  to  all  the  duties  of  her  station,  and  even,  if 
occasion  requires,  to  do  her  own  house-work.  And 
although  she  makes  up  in  number  what  she  lacks  in 
the  depth  of  her  breathings,  she  is  plump,  and  other- 
wise apparently  healthy. 

Such  cases  are  exceedingly  rare  only  because  we 
rarely  find  patients  willing  to  obey,  strictly  and  perse- 
veringly,  the  laws  of  life,  or  able  to  resist  the  impor- 
tunities of  friends,  in  such  desperate  cases,  to  take 
medicines  that  not  only  do  no  good,  but  seriously  in- 
terfere with  Nature's  plan  of  cure;  and  rare,  because 
of  the  utter  ignorance,  even  among  learned  physicians, 
of  the  laws  of  hygiene.  Not  a  medical  school  in  the 
country,  or  any  university  with  which  it  is  connected, 
has  a  single  professorship  or  course  of  lectures  on 
that  subject;  and,  humiliating  as  the  confession  is,  I 
will  not  withhold  the  fact  that  I  graduated  at  "Harvard 
and  practised  physic  for  many  years  before  I  understood 
the  first  principles  of  it,  especially  of  dietetics. 

And,  judging  from  the  testimony  of  professors  as  late 


120  DANGER  OF  ERRONEOUS  TEACHINGS. 

as  1867,  the  advance  in  hygienic  principles,  in  the 
forty  years  that  have  since  transpired,  has  not  been 
very  great.  At  least,  they  have  made  no  advances  on 
Liebig's  discovery,  made  thirty  years  ago,  that  "food 
is  divisible  into  two  classes  —  one  respiratory,  and  the 
other  nutritive."  And,  as  Liebig  had  not  learned  that 
disorganized  elements  cannot  be  assimilated  by  the 
animal  economy,  so  they  continue  to  teach  that  disor- 
ganized and  poisonous  iron,  phosphorus,  and  alcohol 
can  be  safely  and  advantageously  used  to  give  color 
and  strength  to  the  blood ;  to  furnish  a  natural  element 
wanting  in  fine  flour  bread,  and  to  furnish  respiratory 
food. 

One  of  these  ^professors  testified,  before  a  committee 
of  the  Legislature,  that  "alcoholic  drinks  act  as  respi- 
ratory food ; "  another,  that  "  they  have  a  proper  use 
in  the  human  economy,  both  dietetically  and  medici- 
nally ; "  another,  that  the  opinion  of  all  the  professors 
was  in  accordance  with  that  already  quoted. 

One  of  these  professors  has  obtained  a  patent  for  a 
process  by  which  bread  can  be  raised  with,  phosphoric 
acid,  and  by  w^hich  phosphorus  can  be  imparted  (as  he 
says)  to  the  system,  in  place  of  that  removed  in  bolting 
flour.  And  all  of  them  teach  that  iron  can  be  imparted 
to  the  blood  from  the  disorganized  iron  of  the  shops ; 
and  yet  one  author  of  their  own  text-books  says  "  alco- 
holic liquids  cannot  supply  anything  which  te  essential 
to  the  due  nutrition  of  the  system,"  but  that  alcohol  is 
"  a  stimulus,  increasing,  for  a  time,  the  vital  activity 
of  the  body,  but  being  followed  by  a  corresponding 


BANGER  OF  EKRONEOUS  TEACHINGS.  121 

depression  of  power,  which  is  the  more  prolonged 
and  severe  in  proportion  as  the  previous  excitement 
has  been  greater."  And  another  author,  perhaps  more 
often  quoted  by  them  than  any  other,  says  of  iron  "  that 
it  hastens  the  development  of  tubercles,"  and  denounces 
its  use  "as  criminal  in  the  highest  degree." 

In  this  advice  and  practice  they  also  ignore  the  prin- 
ciple, now  well  established  (see  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
page  157),  that  disorganized  elements  cannot  be  assimi- 
lated by  the  human  system.  Of  which  principle,  and 
of  my  position  in  regard  to  it.  Dr.  S.  Dana  Hayes,  who 
finished  his  education  in  Europe  twenty  years  later  than 
these  professors,  says,  "Modern  investigations  certain-- 
ly  sustain  the  ground  taken  that  organized  elements 
are  the  only  ones  assimilated  in  the  human  system." 

Now,  with  teachings  like  these  from  the  institution 
that  claims  to  be  the  fountain-head  of  knowledo-e  in  this 
country,  both  literary  and  medical,  is  it  strange  that 
those  who  desire  to  find  out,  and  are  determined  to 
pursue,  the  course  that  shall  prevent  or  cure  consump- 
tion, are  utterly  unable  to  be  so  sure  that  they  are  right 
as  to  be  able  steadily  to  pursue  their  course  till  their 
object  is  accomplished  ? 

"Who  shall  decide  when  doctors  disagree?"  All 
intelligent  men  and  women  must  decide  for  themselves 
and  their  children ;  and  though  it  may,  at  first  sight, 
seem  exceedingly  difficult,  it  certainly  is  not  impossible 
for  any  one,  who  will  give  the  subject  the  attention  its 
importance  demands,  to  decide  correctly. 

Not  that  every  man  must  decide  on  all  the  details 


122  TREATMENT  OF  CONSUMPTION. 

of  diet,  regimen,  and  medicine  that  is  needed, — that 
would  be  as  absurd  as  to  determine  to  make  and  mend 
his  own  watch,  lest  those  whose  business  it  is  to  do  that 
work  might  do  it  wrong,  —  but  decide  as  to  the  course 
to  be  pursued,  not  by  the  opinions  of  others,  but  by 
their  reasons  for  such  opinions ;  just  as  you  found 
your  hope  of  heaven  on  "the  law  and  the  testimony,'' 
and  not  on  the  opinion  of  other  men,  however  learned 
or  wise.  But  as  in  the  one  case  you  get  instruction  and 
advice  from  those  who  are  themselves  on  the  right 
road,  so  in  the  other  you  ask  advice  from  those  who 
have  adopted  the  right  course  of  treatment.  Let  us 
see  if  there  are  not 

General  Principles  upon  which  we  can  come  to  right 
Conclusions  in  the  Treatment  of  Consumption. 

It  is  agreed,  by  all  intelligent  physicians,  that  medi- 
cines can  never  do  good  except  as  they  assist  Nature  in 
removing  diseases.  Will  Nature  accept  assistance  from 
a  crude  drug  or  medicine  which  the  natural  senses  of 
taste  and  smell,  placed  as  sentinels  to  guard  the  system 
from  dangerous  intruders,  loathe  and  reject?  If  not, 
crude  medicines  can  certainly  never  be  useful. 

It  is  agreed  that  respiratory,  or  carbonaceous  food, 
which  includes  oils,  starch,  and  sugar,  and,  according 
to  Liebig  and  the  professors  of  Harvard  College,  alco- 
hol also,  furnishes  no  nutrition  or  strength  to  the  sys- 
tem, but  is  useful  only  in  furnishing  heat  and  fat.  Are 
cod-liver  oil  and  whiskey  appropriate  articles  for  weak 


TREATMENT  OF  CONSUMPTION.  123 


and  diseased  lungs?  If  not,  how  sad  the  mistake 
by  which,  within  the  last  twenty  years,  thousands  of 
hogsheads  of  these  articles  have  been  used,  heating 
already  inflamed  lungs  aM  adding  to  their  labor,  and 
especially  in  the  use  of  whiskey,  diminishing  the  power 
to  perform  it,  thus  hastening  the  process  of  decay  ! 

Again,  it  is  proved  that  phosphorus  is  necessary  to 
give  life  and  energy  to  the  muscular  and  membraneous 
system,  as  well  as  to  give  action  and  energy  to  the 
brain,  and  that  Nature  has  organized  and  distributed 
this  element  in  the  flesh  of  fish,  active  animals,  the 
germ  of  grains,  and  mixed  with  nitrogenous  food  in 
greater  or  less  proportions  everywhere ;  and  in  order  to 
prevent  us  from  using  this  element  in  any  other  form, 
has  made  all  disorganized  phosphorus  poisonous.  (See 
Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  37-39.)  Can  we  with 
impunity  give  crude  phosphorus  as  a  medicine,  or  use 
it  in  making  bread,  in  place  of  the  organized  phospho- 
rus lost  in  bolting  wheat  flour?  If  not,  the  seeds  of 
consumption  and  other  diseases  are  being  sown  broad- 
cast in  the  community  in  phospbatic  bread,  patented  by 
a  learned  professor,  and  recommended  by  him  as  per- 
fectly harmless ;  and  the  doctors  who  have  followed  the 
learned  French  physician  in  the  free  use  of  crude  phos- 
phoric acid  in  diseases  of  the  lungs,  have  made  sad 
mistakes. 

It  is  proved  also  that  iron,  organized  and  fitted  for 
assimilation,  is  found  in  abundance  in  the  food  about 
us,  both  animal  and  vegetable ;  and  to  prevent  our 
taking  it  in  any  other  form,  Nature  has  fixed  a  penalty 


124  WHAT  TO  AVOID  AS  INJURIOUS. 


for  using  disorganized  iron.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eat- 
ing, pages  160-163.)  If  so,  Trousseau  is  probably 
right  in  supposing  it  to  cause  the  development  of 
tubercles,  and  in  warning  physicians  against  its  use, 
as  before  stated.  But  are  not  our  Harvard  graduates 
doing  a  fearful  business  in  recommending,  as  they  do, 
everywhere,  to  all  chlorotic  girls,  as  well  as  to  feeble 
young  men,  and,  indeed,  to  everybody  else  who  seems 
to  need  strength,  some  combination  of  crude  disorgan- 
ized iron,  so  that  in  almost  all  their  families  can  be 
found  a  bottle  of  the  vile  stuff,  and  almost  every  day 
some  member  making  up  faces  over  it  ? 

If  to  the  foregoing  considerations  we  add  the  fact, 
which  I  have  endeavored  to  prove,  that  all  crude  medi- 
cines do  harm,  with  but  little  chance  of  doing  good, 
we  shall  have,  I  think,  the  means  of  knowing  what  to 
avoid  as  injurious  in  the  treatment  of  consumption,  or 
of  predisposition  to  it. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  Course  of  Treatment  from 
which  we  may  hope  to  expect  positive  Benefit. 

It  is  agreed  that  nutritive  or  nitrogenous  food,  which 
is  found  in  some  parts  of  all  grains,  the  flesh  of  ani- 
mals, and  in  greater  or  less  proportions  in  all  natural  ^ 
food,  gives  strength  and  vigor  to  muscles  and  all  solid 
tissues,  including  of  course  the  membraneous  tissues  or 
solid  parts  of  the  lungs  ;  and  it  is  agreed  that  weakness 
in  any  organ  or  tissue  predisposes  to  disease  of  that 
organ  or  tissue.    Nitrogenous  food,  then,  and  not  that 


i 

TREATMENT  OF  CONSUMPTION.  125 

which  is  carbonaceous  and  stimulating,  is  the  kind  best 
adapted  to  prevent  consumption ;  and  inasmuch  as  this 
kind  of  food  also  increases  the  recuperative  power  of 
the  system,  it  is  that  also  which  would  best  assist  Na- 
ture in  throwing  off  the  disease  when  once  commenced. 

Again,  it  is  found  that  animals  which  eat  food  con- 
taining most  phosphorus  are  most  active,  an^  that 
birds  of  passage  prepare  themselves  for  their  flight  by 
living  on  seeds  which  contain  most  of  that  element 
(see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  84-87),  and  that 
phosphatic  food  increases  the  action  of  the  stomach  and 
digestive  organs,  and  indeed  of  all  the  organs  and  func- 
tions of  the  system.  (See  chapter  on  Dyspepsia.) 
Phosphatic  food  then,  as  well  as  nitrogenous,  must  be 
adapted  to  that  dormant  condition  of  the  system,  and 
the  parts  affected,  which  is  always  found  with  tubercu- 
lar deposits,  and  all  scrofulous  diseases.  Having,  then, 
tables  of  analysis,  showing  the  proportion  of  nitrates 
and  phosphates  in  all  articles  of  food  in  common  use 
(see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  121-126),  we  have 
the  means  of  making  selections  adapted  to  different  cir- 
cumstances. 

And  then  in  regard  to  remedial  agents,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  show  that  Nature  has  provided  in  the  weeds, 
and  plants,  and  flowers,  and  in  all  the  active  combina- 
tion of  elements  about  us,  mineral,  vegetable,  and  ani- 
mal, a  remedial  principle  adapted  to  assist  Nature  in 
the  relief  and  permanent  cure  of  all  the  pains  and  dis- 
eases to  which  flesh  is  heir;  so  that  our  capacity  to 
afford  relief  in  all  cases  is  only  limited  by  our  igno- 


126  HOW  TO  CURE  CONSUMPTION.  * 

ranee  of  the  virtues  of  these  innumerable  agents,  and 
our  judgments  in  preparing  and  adapting  them  to  the 
particular  case  under  consideration. 

And  being  provided  with  the  means  of  testing  the 
virtues  of  each  remedial  agent  without  dangerous  ex- 
periments, and  having  tested,  with  more  or  less  accu- 
racy, some  hundreds  of  these  remedial  agents,  and 
recorded  their  virtues,  we  certainly  have  the  means  of 
assisting  Nature  with  medicine,  to  some  considerable 
extent,  in  removing  the  sufferings  and  overcoming  the 
disease  of  even  consumption,  attended  though  it  may 
be  with  more  difficulties  than  any  other  disease  which 
afflicts  and  destroys  the  human  race. 

And  while  the  most  careful  students  of  Nature,  and 
the  wisest  man,  who,  knowing  the  most  of  Nature's 
resources,  and  having  most  ability  to  choose  and  apply 
them,  must  be  able  to  do  the  most  that  can  be  done  in 
this  terrible  disease  with  medicines,  yet,  in  view  of  all 
that  is  yet  to  be  learned,  he  must  feel,  as  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  felt  in  his  last  days  of  life  —  that  all  he  had 
learned  was  but  the  gathering  of  a  few  pebbles  from  a 
single  spot  on  some  beach,  while  the  borders  of  the 
boundless  ocean  were  left  unexplored.  But  after  all, 
medicines  are  far  less  important  than  the  recuperative 
power  of  Nature ;  and  most  of  all  who  recover  from 
consumption,  recover  in  spite  of  medicines,  and  not  on 
account  of  them,  while  many,  if  not  the  most  of  all 
who  are  lost,  are  lost  because  these  restorative  powers 
are  prostrated  or  destroyed  by  the  constant  use  of  some 
deleterious  medicines. 


HOW  TO  CUKE  CONSUMPTION. 


127 


In  conclusion,  then,  to  sum  up  all  in  one  sentence, 
we  may  enjoy  perfect  exemption  from  this  terrible 
scourge,  that  consigns  to  the  grave  from  one  sixth  to 
one  fifth  of  us  all,  by  breathing  pure  air  night  and  day  ; 
avoiding  compression,  so  that  every  part  of  the  lungs 
shall  always  have  its  necessary  air  and  exercise ;  avoid- 
ing too  carbonaceous  or  stimulating  food  and  drinks  ; 
careful  protection  from  exposure  to  changes  of  temper- 
ature ;  and  by  keeping  up  the  recuperative  powers  of 
the  system  by  natural  food  and  drink,  appropriate 
exercise,  and  cleanliness  of  the  skin.  And  if^  by 
neglecting  any  of  these  precautions,  consumption  is 
threatened  or  ensues,  if  not  neglected  too  long  it 
may  be  warded  off  or  cured  by  returning  to  neg- 
lected duties,  and  by  using  such  medicines  only  as 
shall  not  interfere  with,  but  assist  the  recuperative 
eflforts  of  Nature. 


128 


INFLAMMATORY  DISEASES. 


INFLAMMATORY  DISEASES. 

How  are  they  Caused,  how  Prevented,  and  how  Cured? 

What  constitutes  an  inflammation?  The  part  first 
becomes  irritated,  and,  according  to  a  fixed  law  in  the 
system,  towards  that  irritation  the  blood  flows,  the 
natural  secretions  are  increased,  the  minute  vessels  are 
distended  or  ruptured,  and  pain  and  soreness  are  the 
consequences  of  compressed  or  exposed  nerves,  whose 
minute  ramifications  extend  to  every  fibre  of  muscle 
or  membrane.  These  effects  vary  in  different  parts  of 
the  body,  according  to  its  structure,  the  pain  being 
more  or  less  severe  according  to  the  freedom  with 
which  the  minute  vessels  can  be  distended ;  inflamma- 
tions in  the  confined  tissue  of  the  finger,  or  confined 
parts  of  the  hand,  for  example,  are  much  more  painful 
with  the  same  amount  of  inflammation  than  unconfined 
muscles,  which  can  be  freely  distended  without  pressing 
the  nerves. 

Active  inflammations  are  known  to  be  more  preva- 
lent in  cold  weather  than  in  warm,  and  those  parts  are 
generally  affected  most  which  are  most  exposed  to  irri- 
tating causes.  The  mucous  membranes  of  the  throat, 
nose,  or  lungs  are  more  often  inflamed  in  winter,  when 
exposed  to  the  irritating  effects  of  alternate  cold  and 


WHAT  CAUSES  INFLAMMATORY  DISEASES.  129 

heat,  —  at  one  time  to  the  air  of  a  warm  room,  and  at 
another  time  to  the  air  at  zero,  —  while  in  summer,  and 
in  warm  climates,  the  digestive  organs  are  more  often 
irritated  by  the  crude  vegetables  and  fruits  which  are 
then  more  abundantly  but  not  regularly  used.  But 
why  do  we  suffer  these  inflammations,  and  the  fever 
which  accompanies  them,  while  other  animals,  unless 
unnaturally  restrained  in  their  instincts  and  habits,  are 
exempt  from  them  ?    Let  us  see. 

Nature  furnishes  three  classes  of  principles  in  food 
for  men  and  animals  alike,  —  carbonaceous,  which  fur- 
nishes heat  and  fat ;  nitrogenous,  which  gives  strength 
and  health  to  the  muscles  and  membraneous  tissues; 
and  phosphatic,  which  gives  vital  action  to  the  nerves 
and  brain.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  16.) 
These,  in  their  natural  state,  are  found  in  right  propor- 
tions ;  and  the  instincts  of  animals  direct  them  to  food 
with  these  principles  so  proportioned  as  to  be  best 
adapted  to  their  condition  at  all  times  and  temper- 
atures. 

But  man,  whose  instincts  are  intended  to  be  con- 
trolled by  his  intellect,  perverts  his  blessings  by  trying 
to  make  them  better.  He  separates  those  principles 
from  their  natural  connections,  in  which  they  are  pre- 
pared in* exactly  the  right  proportions,  using  those  which 
he  esteems  the  best,  and  rejecting  the  rest.  In  using  fine 
flour,  out  of  which  is  bolted  the  nitrogenous  and  phos- 
phatic principles,  he  loses  those  which  give  him  strength 
and  activity,  and  takes  only  those  which  produce  heat, 
and  tend  to  produce  inflammations. 
9 


130       WHAT  CAUSES  INFLAIVIMATORY  IISEASES. 


In  using  butter  also,  which  is  the  carbonaceous  part 
of  the  milk  separated  from  the  other  principles,  he  adds 
to  his  bread  no  elements  of  strength,  but  only  increases 
its  heating  and  inflammatory  powers.  Sugar,  also, 
contains  the  same  heating  elements  only.  The  fat  of 
animals,  and  all  vegetable  oils,  also  contain  no  strength- 
giving  principles,  but  are  exclusively  devoted  to  the 
production  of  fat  and  heat. 

All  these  principles  are  necessary  and  healthful  to 
the  extent  of  four  fifths  of  all  our  food  ;  and  if  the  food 
with  which  they  are  taken  were  deficient  in  these  prin- 
ciples, they  would  not  be  unwholesome  in  their  concen- 
trated form  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  make  up  the 
deficiency.  But  our  grains  and  meats,  in  their  natural 
state,  contain  of  these  carbonaceous  principles  all  that 
are  needed ;  and  all  we  add  to  them  of  butter,  sugar, 
or  starch  is  wasted,  and  tends  also  to  produce  unnat- 
ural heat,  inflammation,  and  fever. 

To  make  this  statement  perfectly  comprehensible, 
even  to  those  who  know  nothing  of  physiology,  let  us 
compare  the  process  by  which  the  carbon  of  fat,  sugar, 
and  starch  are  consumed  to  furnish  heat  to  the  system, 
with  the  process  of  combustion  by  which  the  carbon 
of  coal  and  wood  is  consumed  to  furnish  heat  to  our 
apartments,  steam,  &c.  Indeed  the  processes  are  the 
same,  except  that  the  process  by  which  heat  is  furnished 
by  combustion  from  coal  and  wood  is  entirely  a  chem- 
ical process,  while  that  by  which  animal  heat  is  pro- 
duced in  breathing  is  a  vital  process,  which  cannot  b^ 
explained. 


WHAT  CAUSES  INFLAMMATORY  DISEASES.  131 

As  inflammable  materials,  therefore,  are  made  more 
inflammable  by  constant  exposure  to  extra  heat,  so  the 
human  system  is  made  more  susceptible  to  inflamma- 
tions by  exposure  to  extra  heat  from  too  carbonaceous 
food. 

Many  a  steamboat  has  been  lost  because  the  sheath- 
ing and  wood  work  around  the  boiler  became  so  com- 
bustible, by  constant  heat,  that  the  least  spark  ignited 
it  —  a  spark  that  would  have  no  effect  on  wood  not 
thus  heated  and  inflammable.  So  our  lung  fevers, 
catarrhs,  sore  throats,  inflammatory  rheumatisms,  &c., 
are  induced  by  exposures  to  colds  and  other  slight 
causes,  in  those  who  live  mostly  on  fine  flour,  butter, 
and  sugar,  while  exposures  to  the  same  colds,  and  ex- 
citing causes  of  inflammations,  have  no  effect  on  those 
who  live  on  food  containing  only  its  natural  proportions 
of  heating  principles. 

And,  to  carry  the  illustration  farther,  as  it  is  difficult 
to  subdue  the  flames  when  once  commenced  on  sheath- 
ing rendered  excessively  combustible  by  constant  heat- 
ing, so  our  lung  fevers,  sore  throats,  rheumatisms,  and 
other  inflammations,  are  obstinate,  difficult  of  cure,  and 
dangerous  in  exact  proportion  as  the  sheathing  of  the 
system  is  kept  hot  by  carbonaceous  food,  alcoholic 
drinks,  and  stimulating  condiments. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  lower  orders  of  the  people 
of  China,  Burmah,  and  Hindostan,  who  live  on  rice, 
are  afflicted  greatly  with  low,  inactive  inflammations, 
especially  of  the  eyes ;  and,  by  the  table  of  analysis. 
Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  123,  it  is  seen  that  rice 


132        SUBJECTS  OF  INFLAMMATORY  DISEASES. 

contains  but  six  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  nitrogenous  food 
to  seventy-nine  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  carbonaceous, 
while  the  standard  article  of  grain  —  wheat  —  contains 
fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  one,  to  seventy  per  cent,  of  the 
other.  That  this  tendency  to  low  inflammations  is 
caused  by  extra  carbon,  is  proved  by  facts  which  have 
come  under  our  own  observation. 

Before  the  great  rebellion  in  this  country,  which 
stopped  for  some  years  the  supply  of  rice,  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Orphan  Asylum,  on  Asylum  Street,  Bos- 
ton, were  fed,  to  a  considerable  extent,  on  rice  and 
molasses  ;  and  they  were  greatly  aflBiicted  with  ophthal- 
mia, and  at  times  nearly  all  the  children  had  sore  eyes 
at  once.  But  after  rice  failed  they  were  fed  on  oat- 
meal, hominy,  and  milk;  and  now,  for  seven  years, 
have  been  entirely  exempt  from  sore  eyes,  and  have, 
in  other  respects,  been  manifestly  more  healthy  and 
vigorous. 

Observation  also  establishes  the  fact  that  gouty  men 
are  those  who  take  little  muscular  exercise,  and  but 
little  nitrogenous  food,  but  living  on  fat  meats  and 
carbonaceous  puddings,  with  rich  gravies  and  sauces, 
and  who  also  use,  in  some  form,  alcoholic  drinks. 
Those,  also,  who  are  most  subject  to  inflammatory 
rheumatism,  and  indeed  to  any  inflammatory  diseases, 
are  those  who  live  also  on  highly-stimulating,  car- 
bonaceous food  and  alcoholic  drinks. 

Here,  then,  we  have  indicated,  not  only  the  diet 
required  to  prevent  inflammations,  but  also  that  which 
will  assist  in  curing  them ;  for  if  too  much  fuel  has 


KATIONAL  TREATMENT  OF  INFLAMMATIONS.  133 

produced  too  much  heat,  it  is  clear  that  withdrawing 
the  supply  will  help  to  cool  off. 

This  Nature  also  indicates,  in  all  grave  cases  of 
inflammations,  by  stopping  the  appetite,  and  making 
even  the  sight  of  carbonaceous  food  disgusting.  She 
also  indicates  an  important  remedy,  by  giving  us  thirst 
for  cold  water.  Thus  Nature  herself  carries  out  the 
illustration  of  combustion,  by  ordering  the  fuel  to  be 
removed  and  the  flames  quenched  with  water. 

In  inflammations,  then,  and  fevers,  as  in  all  other 
diseases  and  conditions,  we  can  adopt  no  safer  plan  of 
cure  than  to  follow  Nature's  suggestions.  Withdraw 
all  heating  or  carbonaceous  food ;  then  keep  quiet,  so 
that  the  blood  will  not  be  forced  into  the  parts  inflamed 
by  active  circulation,  and  especially  that  that  organ  or 
part  inflamed  may  not  be  pained  by  exercise ;  then  use 
freely  cold  water,  as  the  thirs.t  demands. 

Then  when  nourishment  is  demanded,  take  such  as  is 
gratefully  received,  and  never  any  other.  These  will 
always  be  found  to  be  first  the  cooling  sub-acid  juices 
of  fruits,  like  those  of  grapes,  oranges,  and  luscious 
pears,  or  the  soluble  nitrogenous  and  pho^hatic  ele- 
ments obtained  from  barley  or  oatmeal,  or  brown  bread 
crust,  which  support  the  system  without  heating  it; 
and  these  elements  are  best  abstracted  by  soaking  the 
barley  or  oatmeal  in  cold  water,  which,  not  coagulating 
the  albumen,  which  is  the  principal  strengthening  ele- 
ment, allows  it  to  flow  out  freely ;  but  it  should  be 
boiled  afterwards. 

Then,  as  recovery  progresses,  the  juices  of  the  meats, 


134    RATIONAL  TREATMENT  OF  INFLAMMATIONS. 

—  those  most  agreeable  to  the  taste  always  being  best, — 
and,  finally,  in  moderate  quantities  at  first,  return  to 
the  natural  supply  of  carbonaceous  and  nitrogenous 
food. 

Ill  grave  Cases  of  Inflammations  and  Fevers  it  is  not 
safe  to  trust  to  appropriate  Diet  alone  for  Recovery, 

Nature  in  such  cases  needs,  and  must  have,  to  be 
sure  of  success,  assistance  also  from  the  remedial 
principles  which  she  has  so  profusely  scattered  around 
us,  undoubtedly  for  this  very  purpose.  This  argument 
in  favor  of  using  medicines  rationally,  according  to 
Nature's  own  intimations,  as  elsewhere  explained,  is, 
to  my  mind,  irresistible. 

The  argument  may  be  stated  as  follows  :  There  are 
in  the  plants,  and  flowery,  and  active  chemical  combi- 
nations about  us,  medicinal  principles  which  relieve 
pain,  cool  heated  and  inflamed  surfaces  and  fevers,  and 
assist  Nature  in  the  cure  of  diseases.  This  has  been 
so  often  and  so  carefully  tested  and  experienced  that 
it  is  utterly  foolish  to  deny  it.  It  is  conceded,  also, 
by  all  intelligent  students  of  Nature,  that  no  elements 
or  principles  are  created  in  vain,  and  that  the  uses  of 
any  element  or  principle  can  be  determined  only  by 
knowing  what  it  is  capable  of  doing. 

Having,  then,  these  medicinal  principles  always  at 
hand,  and  knowing  that  they  are  capable  of  affording 
relief,  and  having  the  means  of  knowing  also  what 
suffering  each  individual  principle  is  capable  of  reliev- 


ERROR  OF  VEGETARIAJ^S. 


135 


ing,  as  I  have  explained,  how  can  we  resist  the  con- 
clusion that  there  must  be  cases  in  which  these  remedial 
agents  are  needed? — else  they  are  made  in  vain.  And 
how  can  a  consistent  student  of  the  laws  of  life  refuse 
to  use  the  means  of  relief  so  plainly  revealed  ?  And 
here,  perhaps,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  I  may  notice 
another  error,  likewise  the  result  of  a  limited  under- 
standing of  the  laws  of  life,  viz.,  that  of  adopting 
exclusively  one  class  of  articles  of  natural  food,  and 
rejecting  others  as  always  injurious. 


136 


ERROR  OF  VEGETARIANS. 


IS  ANIMAL  FOOD  ALWAYS  INJURIOUS? 

In  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me  perfectly  unreason- 
able that  God,  in  blessing  Noah  after  the  flood  for  his 
faithfulness,  should  give  him  control  of  "every  beast  of 
the  earth,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  all  that  moveth 
upon  the  earth,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea ;  "  and  should 
tell  him  that  "  every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be 
meat  for  you,  even  as  the  green  herb ;  "  and  should 
cause  to  be  deposited  in  all  these  living  creatures  the 
same  elements,  in  the  same  combinations  as  are  wanted 
in  the  human  system,  and  as  are  found  in  the  "green 
herb,"  or  vegetable  food,  and  should,  at  the  same  time, 
make  one  class  to  be  appropriate  food  and  the  other 
injurious. 

That'  each  class  of  food  does  contain  the  same  ele- 
ments, in  the  same  combinations,  and  nearly  the  same 
proportions,  is  seen  by  tables  of  analysis.  Philosophy 
of  Eating,  pages  121-125.  Take  two  articles  —  beef 
and  wheat,  for  example.  Beef  contains  of  carbonaceous 
food  thirty  per  cent.,  nitrogenous  sixteen,  phosphatic 
five,  and  water  fifty.  Wheat  contains  of  carbonaceous 
food  seventy  per  cent.,  nitrogenous  fifteen,  phosphatic 
two,  and  water  fourteen.  Now,  considering  that  thirty 
per  cent,  of  fat  is  equal  to  two  and  a  half  times  as  much 
starch,  in  heating  power,  or  seventy-five  to  that  of 


ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE  FOOD  ALIKE.  137 

wheat  at  seventy,  these  two  articles,  the  beef  being  of 
average  fatness,  in  strengthening  and  heating  qualities 
are  nearly  alike ;  but  the  beef  has  more  than  twice  the 
nervfe  and  brain  food  as  the  wheat. 

In  this  last  respect,  however,  beef  and  w^heat  differ 
less  from  each  other  than  some  other  articles  entirely 
vegetable.  For  example :  Noi^thern  corn  contains  but 
one  per  cent,  of  nerve  and  brain  food,  while  beans  con- 
tain three  and  a  half  per  cent.,  and  Southern  corn  four. 
Where,  then,  is  evidence,  in  chemical  structure  of  ani- 
mal, as  compared  with  vegetable  food,  to  show  that  the 
one  is  wholesome  and  the  other  injurious  ?  And  then 
as  to  the  practical  results  of  living  exclusively  on  ani- 
mal or  vegetable  food  —  where  is  found  the  proof  of 
the  advantages  of  the  one  over  the  other,  either  in  the 
perfection  and  size  of  the  body  or  in  the  vigor  or  length 
of  life  which  they  impart  ? 

The  Patagonian  is  the  largest,  and,  perhaps,  the 
most  vigorous  race  of  men,  and  they  live  almost  ex- 
clusively on  animal  food,  while  the  vegetable-eating 
Hindoo  is  a  race  among  the  most  inferior.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  vegetable,  and  milk  and  cheese-eating 
Bushmen  are  well  formed,  athletic,  and  vigorous,  while 
the  meat-eating  Esquimaux  are  an  inferior  race  of 
men. 

And  then  statistics,  while  they  prove,  as  I  have 
shown  in  another  chapter,  that  length  of  life,  as  well 
as  health  and  happiness,  depends  on  the  free  but  tem- 
perate use  of  the  good  things  that  Nature  has  furnished, 
both  of  food  and  remedial  agents,  and  on  rejecting 


138 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  MEDICAL  HOBBIES. 


everything  injurious  in  food,  drink,  medicine,  or  air, 
give  not  an  item  of  proof  that  vegetarians  live  a  day- 
longer,  or  have  less  sickness  or  pain,  than  those  who 
eat  meat,  but  who  live,  in  other  respects,  as  temperately 
and  carefully  as  their  vegetarian  friends.  Nor  has  such 
proof  been  furnished  from  any  other  source. 

That  immense  good  has  been  done  in  hygienic 
and  water-cure  establishments,  by  taking  patients  away 
from  their  carbonaceous  food,  their  stimulating  drinks, 
and  their  death-dealing  drugs,  and  giving  them,  instead, 
grains,  vegetables,  and  fruits  in  their  natural  state, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  And  that  those  who  judi- 
ciously use,  in  addition  to  natural  food,  as  some  adver- 
tise, "pure  air,  water  cure,  Turkish  baths,  electric 
baths,  electricity,  galvanism,  magnetism,  gymnastics, 
movement  cure,  lifting  cure,  out-door  exercise,  social 
amusements,"  and  even  animal  magnetism,  whether 
under  the  name  of  mesmerism,  clairvoyance,  or  spir- 
itualism, are  benefited  in  proportion  as  these  remedial 
agents  are  judiciously  applied,  it  is  certainly  reasona- 
ble to  believe.  And  inasmuch  as  in  such  institutions 
there  is  less  danger  of  doing  harm  by  riding  any  one 
agent  as  a  hobby,  and  using  it  for  all  cases,  whether 
appropriate  or  not,  as  they  are  wont  to  do,  who,  know- 
ing only  one,  believe  in  that  only,  that  institution  is 
safest  and  can  do  most  good,  other  things  being  equal, 
which  has  at  command  the  greatest  number  of  remedial 
agents . 

My  ideal  establishment,  and  one  to  which,  when 
other  things  fail,  I  should  like  to  go,  or  send  my 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  MEDICAL  HOBBIES.  139 

friends,  is  one  in  which  are  at  command  all  the  re- 
sources of  Nature,  both  hygienic  and  remedial,  includ- 
ing, of  course,  "living  things  that  move"  as  well  as 
vegetables  for  food,  and  the  medical  principles  which 
are  provided  in  the  weeds,  and  plants,  and  flowers  in 
the  fields  about  us ;  and  in  which  also  are  to  be  found 
men  of  good  common  sense,  who  understand  the  nature 
of  all  these  varieties  of  food  and  medical  principles,  and 
their  adaptation  to  each  particular  case  that  comes  be- 
fore them.  Every  one  of  these  alimentary  and  remedial 
agents  is  sometimes  needed,  else  it  would  not  have  been 
provided ;  and  he  who  uses  water  cure  alone,  or  elec- 
tricity, or  any  other  one  of  all  these  remedial  agents, 
must  be  as  narrow  minded  as  he  who  believes  that  man 
should  "  live  on  bread  alone,"  and  that  all  other  food 
was  made  in  vain. 

It  is  lamentable,  and  yet  amusing,  to  see  how  minds 
are  narrowed  down  by  confinement  to  a  little  circle  of 
thought,  as  in  the  study  of  one  or  only  a  few  of  Nature's 
resources.  In  1832,  when  all  minds  were  exercised  with 
thoughts  .on  Asiatic  cholera,  I  had  two  patients  whom 
I  visited  daily  for  some  time.  One  was  a  chemist,  who 
made  nitre  and  sulphuric  acid,  and,  of  course,  studied 
oxygen,  and  the  other  an  organ-maker,  who  studied 
air.  As  they  became  convalescent,  so  as  not  to  think 
exclusively  of  themselves,  they  amused  me  daily  each 
with  his  own  "  theory  and  practice  "  in  cases  of  cholera, 
and  indeed  in  most  other  diseases. 

The  chemist  thought  that  want  of  oxygen  in  the  air 
must  be  the  cause  of  cholera ;  and  he  made  the  proof 


140     ^     THE  EFFECTS  OF  MEDICAL  HOBBIES. 

of  the  theory  clear,  to  his  own  mind  at  least,  by  con- 
sidering the  facts  that  oxygen  was  the  element  which 
gave  purity  to  the  blood,  and  life  and  energy  to  the 
system,  and  that  cholera  was  a  disease  of  depression, 
and  cholera  patients  turned  blue,  also,  just  as  drowning 
men  do,  for  want  of  oxygen. 

The  organ-maker  thought  cholera  must  be  caused 
by  confined  air,  for  men  who  were  suffocated  in  confined 
air  had  very  much  the  appearance  of  those  suffering  and 
dying  with  cholera  ;  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  if  cholera 
patients  could  be  carried  directly  into  the  wind,  they 
would  soon  recover. 

The  water-cure  doctor  makes  himself  believe  that 
water,  cold  and  hot,  in  its  varied  applications,  is  the 
only  remedial  agent  needed  in  the  cure  of  any  disease. 

The  electrician  thinks  electricity  the  source  of  hfe ; 
and  all  that  is  wanted  in  any  disease  is  to  regulate  and 
control  electrical  currents,  and  therefore  water  must  be 
carefully  avoided,  lest  it  should  interfere  with  the^cure, 
for  even  damp  air  is  death  on  electricity. 

The  "  lifting-cure  "  doctor^  who  knows  nothing  else, 
seems  to  believe  that  not  only  muscular  power,  but  re- 
cuperative power,  and  even  brain  power,  are  propor- 
tionate to  the  number  of  pounds  he  is  able  to  lift. 
And  though  one  third  of  his  power  may  be  gained  by 
yoking  himself  like  an  ox,  yet  if  in  that  way  he  can 
lift  three  thousand  pounds,  while  without  a  yoke  the 
strongest  man  never  raised  but  a  ton,  he  seems  to  fancy 
himself  one  third  stronger,  healthier,  and  wiser  than  the 
strongest  man  who  never  dignified  himself  with  the  yoke. 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  MEDICAL  HOBBIES, 


141 


And  even  some  of  those  who  style  themselves  rational 
practitioners  seem  not  to  have  much  broader  views  of 
the  medical  resources  of  Nature ;  for  while  there  are 
hundreds  of  medicines  which  can,  and,  if  rightly  ad- 
ministered, do,  assist  Nature  in  the  relief  of  pains  and 
the  cure  of  disease,  and  which  must,  therefore,  have 
been  given  us  for  that  purpose,  the  professor  of  materia 
medica  in  Harvard  College  tells  his  class,  every  year, 
"  If  I  can  have  four^  or  at  most  six^  medicines,  I  can 
cure  all  diseases  and  relieve  all  pains  that  medicines  are 
capable  of  curing  or  relieving." 

My  definition  of  a  rational  practitioner  is  he  who, 
despising  or  rejecting  none  of  the  provisions  of  Nature, 
hygienic  or  curative,  as  far  as  possible  follows  the 
sacred  injunction,  "  Prove  all  things ;  hold  fast  that 
which  is  good." 


142     *  CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 


CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 

That  peculiar  greenish  or  ash-colored  appearance 
which  is  seen  in  our  feeble,  undeveloped  daughters, 
and  which  indicates  the  disease  called  chlorosis,  from 
the  color  of  the  skin, —  being  a  watery  state  of  the 
blood,  —  is  supposed  to  be  caused  by  want  of  iron  in 
the  system ;  and  hence  such  girls  are  always  found 
taking  iron,  in  pills,  or  drops,  or  in  some  other  crude 
preparation,  with  the  vain  hope  of  thus  restoring  iron 
to  the  blood.  And  as,  for  a  while,  the  appetite  is 
improved,  and  the  strength  apparently  increased,  the 
remedy  is  continued ;  but  the  improvement  is  deceptive, 
and  never,  according  to  my  experience  and  observation, 
effects  a  permanent  cure.  And  this  opinion  is  con- 
firmed by  the  highest  medical  authority,  as  I  have 
quoted  before.    (See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  161.) 

One  sentence  from  Trousseau  is  so  important  in  this 
connection,  that  I  will  repeat  it  here,  there  being  no 
higher  authority  on  this  or  any  other  medical  subject. 
As  quoted  by  J.  Francis  Churchill,  a  celebrated  French 
physician,  who  confirms  the  statement,  "  M.  Trousseau 
declares  that  iron,  in  any  form,  given  in  chlorotic  affec- 
tions, to  patients  in  whom  consumptive  diathesis  exists, 
invariably  fixes  the  diathesis,  and  hastens  ihe  develop- 
ment of  tubercles.    The  iron  may  induce  a  factitious 


CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 


143 


return  to  health  ;  the  physician  may  flatter  himself  that 
he  has  corrected  the  chlorotic  condition  of  his  patient ; 
but,  to  his  surprise,  he  will  find  the  patient  soon  after 
fall  into  a  phthisical  state,  from  which  there  is  no  re- 
turn. This  result,  or  at  least  its  hastening,  M.  Trous- 
seau attributes  to  the  iron.  The  assertion  is  a  most 
startling  one.  M.  Trousseau  is  nevertheless  so  certain 
of  what  he  says,  that  he  denounces  the  administration 
of  iron  in  chlorosis  as  criminal  in  the  highest  degree 

No  attempt  has  ever  been  made,  to  my  knowledge, 
to  refute  the  opinions  of  these  two  celebrated  physi- 
cians, and  it  corroborates  the  doctrine  that  I  have  else- 
where endeavored  to  establish  (see  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
page  159),  that  "no  elements  are  allowed  to  be  incor- 
porated into  and  become  a  part  of  the  blood,  in  any 
organ  or  tissue,  that  are  not  fitted  for  digestion  in  some 
vegetable,"  but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  they  become 
poisonous  or  injurious  to  the  system.  And  yet,  if  you 
ask  the  first  ten  green  or  ash-colorod  girls  you  shall 
meet,  what  they  are  taking  as  medicine,  nine  will  proba- 
bly tell  you  iron. 

And  the  most  of  them,  if  they  have  taken  it  but  a 
short  time,  will  declare  they  feel  better  for  it.  And 
this  is  accounted  for  on  the  same  principle  that  alcohol, 
another  article  composed  of  disorganized  elements,  de- 
ceives the  feeble  patients  who  take  it,  by  making  them 
at  first  feel  better,  but  afterwards,  as  the  stimulus  loses 
its  power,  depressing  them  in  the  same  proportion  as  they 
had  been  stimulated.  Iron,  however,  is  a  slower  and 
more  permanent  stimulant,  and  therefore  more  decep- 


144      CAUSE  OF  CONSUMPTION  OF  THE  BLOOD. 

tive.  For  a  time,  however,  like  alcohol,  it  increases 
the  powers  of  digestion,  and  causes,  perhaps,  iron  to 
be  appropriated  from  the  food ;  for  sometimes  the  color 
of  the  cheeks  and  the  blood  return,  and  it  apparently 
becomes  thicker  and  better ;  but  that  the  strength  and 
color  of  the  blood  in  that  case  are  produced  by  the  stim- 
ulant, and  not  from  the  iron  directly,  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  alcohol,  and  phosphorus,  and  some  other  stim- 
ulants, will  do  the  same  thing,  and  even  quicker  than 
iron.  In  all  cases,  however,  these  stimulants  leave  the 
system  more  depressed  at  last,  and  thus  hasten  the  de- 
velopi^ent  of  incurable  consumption,  either  of  the  lungs 
or  bowels. 

What  is  the  Cause  of  Chlorosis  ? 

I  have  investigated  scores  of  cases,  and  found  their 
history  to  be  uniformly  the  same.  From  the  time  of 
its  birth,  and  months  before,  till  the  child  was  weaned, 
the  mother  had  lived  on  food  which  contained  very  little 
iron,  or  any  of  the  elements  of  which  its  tissues  or  blood 
is  composed. 

Butter  contains  not  a  particle  of  iron,  sugar  none, 
and  superfine  flour  very  little.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eat- 
ing, pages  29,  30.)  And  yet  I  have  found  many  a 
young  mother  whose  principal  food  consisted  mostly  of 
white  bread  and  butter,  cakes,  pastry,  confectionery, 
and  coffee  and  tea,  neither  of  which,  nor  all  together, 
would  contain,  in  all  she  could  eat,  of  iron,  phosphorus, 
nitrogen,  or  lime,  sufficient  to  make  blood,  bones,  or 
muscles  in  good  condition  for  the  child  alone,  while  her 
own  system  would  be  left  unsupplied. 


THE  CAUSE  OF  CHLOEOSIS.  145 

It  is  a  curious  physiological  fact,  that  in  such  cases 
Nature  provides  first  for  the  child,  and  if  the  expectant 
mother  fails  to  supply  elements  sufficient  for  both  her- 
self and  the  child,-  the  child  will  be  first  supplied  at  the 
expense  of  the  mother ;  and  we  often  see  white  bread 
and  butter,  and  cake  and  pastry-eating  mothers  pale 
and  feeble,  and  sulFering  intensely  from  defective  teeth 
and  neuralgia,  for  want  of  iron,  phosphorus,  nitrogen, 
and  lime,  while  the  infant  may  be  born  in  a  condition 
comparatively  well  developed  and  healthy. 

And  then  in  nursing,  though  the  child  gets  the  best 
of  the  elements  furnished,  still  it  can  never  get  good 
blood  from  such  food  as  does  not  contain  the  elements 
of  good  blood ;  and  when  it  is  weaned,  its  food  will 
probably  be  of  the  same  kind  as  that  on  which  its 
mother  lives.    And  thus  if  it  lives  at  all,  it  will  grow 
up  feeble  in  muscle,  for  want  of  nitrogen ;  defective  in 
teeth,  for  want  of  lime  ;  neuralgic,  nervous,  and  hyster- 
ical, or  perhaps  stupid,  for  want  of  phosphorus ;  and 
pale  and  ash-colored,  for  want  of  iron.    Such  are  the 
girls  who  have  a  morbid,  indefinite  craving  for  some- 
thing, they  know  not  what,  and  therefore  add  to  their 
troubles  by  eating  such  unnatural  and  abominable  things 
as  chalk,  slate  pencils,  magnesia,  pickled  limes,  &c., 
their  systems  being  deficient  in  important  health-giving 
elements. 

I  once  made  a  post-mortem  examination  in  case  of  a 
chlorotic  young  lady,  who  died  after  intense  and  long- 
continued  suflferings,  the  cause  of  which  could  not  be 
ascertained  while  living;  and  we  found  a  ball  of  mao-- 
10 


146  RATIONAL  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 

nesia  that  weighed  a  pound,  and  other  smaller  ones, 
embedded  in  the  intestines,  obstructing  the  passage,  and 
finally  stopping  it  altogether.  And  there  are  numerous 
records  of  similar  cases.  And  if  they  do  not  thus  ac- 
cumulate, all  unnatural  or  undigested  articles  in  passing 
off  must  produce  irritation,  and  tend  to  develop  tuber- 
cles of  the  bowels  and  other  diseases.  Having,  then,  the 
cause  of  this  disease,  or  at  least  the  foundation  of  what 
is  called  consumption  of  the  blood  or  bowels,  as  well 
as  consumption  of  the  lungs,  to  which  so  many  of  our 
daughters  are  sacrificed,  it  is  certainly  an  important 
inquiry.  What  will  cure  this  terrible  malady? 

What  is  the  rational  Mode  of  curing  Chlorosis  ? 

If  my  position  is  true,  that  chlorosis  is  simply  the 
want  of  iron  and  other  necessary  elements  in  the  blood, 
and  if  it  be  , also  true,  as  I  have  elsewhere  endeavored 
to  prove  (see  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  9-13),  that 
these  elements  are  all  furnished  and  at  hand  in  "  every 
herb  bearing  seed,  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth,  and  every  tree  in  the  w^hich  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree 
yielding  seed,"  and  also  in  the  flesh  of  "  every  beast  of 
the  earth,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  everything 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth  wherein  there  is  life," 
which,  having  obtained  in  their  flesh  the  elements  as 
organized  in  the  herb,  and  the  seed,  &c.,  and  being 
thus  fitted  to  be  food  for  man,  were  given  to  Noah 
and  his  posterity  as  a  blessing,  for  food,  "  even  as  the 
green  herb ;  "  and  if  it  be  also  true,  as  I  think  I 


EATIONAL  CUKE  OF  CHLOEOSIS.  147 

have  shown,  that  neither  iron,  nor  any  other  element 
not  thus  organized,  can  be  assimilated  as  an  element 
of  the  blood,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  is  interdicted  as 
poisonous,  —  then  surely  the  rational  mode  of  cure  is 
clearly  pointed  out.  We  have  but  to  take  food  freely 
which  is  known  to  contain  iron  and  other  elements  as 
they  are  needed. 


Bat  how  can  we  ascertain  wheiher  any  Elements  are 
wanted  to  make  the  Blood  pure  in  any  given  Case, 
or,  if  so,  what  are  the  deficient  Elements  of  the 
Blood  ? 

Why  not  use  common  sense,  as  our  mechanics  and 
chemists  use  it  in  their  every-day  operations  ?  Suppose 
an  intelligent  soap-maker  should  find  that  a  lot  of  soap, 
which  a  blundering  man  had  attempted  to  make,  was 
good  for  nothing  because  the  necessary  elements  were 
not  mixed  in  the  right  proportions,  —  how  would  he 
ascertain  what  was  wanted  to  make  good  soap  of  it? 
Knowing  just  how  much  alkali  and  how  much  oil  or 
grease  were  necessary  for  the  quantity  before  him,  he 
would  ascertain  how  much  of  each  had  been  used ;  and 
if  a  pound  of  potash  was  wanting,  would  add  it  to  the 
mixture ;  and  if  other  necessary  conditions  were  com- 
plied with,  he  would  be  sure  of  good  soap.    But  sup- 
pose he  should  not  know  what  was  needed,  and  should 
add  at  hazard  a  pound  of  grease  instead,  would  he 
get  good  soap? 

Upon  the  same  principle,  if  we  see  a  feeble,  sickly, 


148  RATIONAL  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 

undeveloped  girl,  without  disease  of  any  particular 
organ,  we  know  that  something  must  be  wanting  in  the 
blood;  and  what  that  something  is,  we  can  know  by 
ascertaining  what  she  has  omitted  to  supply.  If  she 
has  lived  principally  on  superfine  flour  bread 'and  butter, 
or  cakes  and  confectionery,  or  any  other  food  of  which 
starch,  butter,  or  sugar  is  the  predominant  principle, 
we  know  that  she  has  omitted  to  supply  her  blood  with 
iron,  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  lime,  &c.,  as  these  articles 
of  food  do  not  contain  these  elements.  TThat,  then, 
does  common  sense  dictate,  in  such  a  case,  but  to  omit 
such  articles  of  food,  and  take  instead  such  food  as  is 
known  to  contain  these  deficient  elements?  Just  as,  in 
the  supposed  soap  case,  the  intelhgent  soap-maker  omit- 
ted the  o^rease  and  added  alkali. 

A  woman  in  the  country  once  gave  me  an  account  of 
what  she  called  her  bad  luck  in  attempting  to  make  soft 
soap.  She  put  together,  as  she  thought  according  to 
rule,  her  grease  and  lye,  and  boiled  them,  and  added 
the  right  quantity  of  water,  and  stirred  it ;  but  the  soap 
"  wouldn't  come ; "  and  not  knowing  what  was  the 
trouble,  she  asked  a  neighbor,  who  told  her  she  had 
heard  that  salt  was  good,  and  advised  her  to  add  a  pint 
of  salt,  and  stir  it  all  day.  She  followed  the  advice, 
and  still  it  wouldn't  come. 

She  consulted  another  neighbor,  who  told  her  the 
trouble  was,  that  she  stirred  it  a  part  of  the  time  one 
way  and  a  part  of  the  time  the  other,  and  thus  undid 
at  one  time  what  she  did  at  another  :  she  must  stir  it 
always  with  the  sun,  and  that  would  certainly  fetch  it. 


CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS.  149 

"  She  stirred  it,  and  stirred  it ;  but  the  more  she  stirred 
it  the  more  it  wouldn't  come."  Finally  she  consulted 
a  very  old  and  experienced  housekeeper,  who  assured 
her  it  would  come  if  she  stirred  it  when  the  sign  was 
right.  She  must  get  old  Isaiah  Thomas's  Almanac, 
and  look  up  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  and  when  the  sign 
was  right  she  must  stir  as  before  directed,  vigorously, 
with  the  sun,  and  her  trouble  would  soon  be  over.  She 
followed  advice,  but  after  all  lost  her  soap. 

Now,  absurd  and  ridiculous  as  were  these  whims  of 
the  grandmothers  of  the  past  generation  in  regard  to 
the  making  of  soap,  they  were  not  a  whit  more  absurd 
or  ridiculous  than  those  of  the  mothers  of  the  present 
in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  what  are  called  humors, 
or  impurities  of  the  blood,  especially  of  that  condition 
of  which  we  are  now  treating,  and  from  which  so  many 
of  our  daughters  are  lost.    Indeed,  that  mother  is  a 
rare  exception  who,  after  iron  has  failed,  does  not 
resort  to  beer,  or  wine,  or  oxygenated  bitters,  or  some 
medical   discoveries,  or  something  else  which  some 
neighbor  or  quack  doctor  shall  tell  her  is  good  for  the 
blood,  although  not  one  of  them  all  has  more  power  to 
cure  chlorosis,  or  to  purify  the  blood,  than  the  signs  of 
the  zodiac  have  power  to  make  soap ;  but  they  have 
more  power  to  do  harm,  and  that  harm  is  incalculably 
more  important.    And  yet,  to  carry  out  the  illustration, 
it  is  no  more  certain  that  good  soap  can  be  made  with- 
out failure  by  using  the  right  materials  in  the  right 
way,  than  it  is  certain  that  pure  blood  can  be  made  by 
the  right  use  of  the  elements  which  constitute  good 
blood 


150  CAUSE  AND  CURE  OF  CHLOROSIS. 

But  what  kinds  of  food  contain  iron  ?  Analyses  ol 
different  articles  have  not  yet  been  made  to  determine 
the  proportion  of  iron  which  each  article  contains ;  but 
a  general  statement  will  be  sufficient  for  all  practical 
purposes.  The  flesh  of  all  animals  contains  iron,  and 
of  course  milk,  grains,  fruits,  and  vegetables,  which 
make  the  muscle  or  flesh  of  animals,  contain  it. 

Iron,  phosphorus,  lime,  and  all  other  mineral  ele- 
ments, are  connected  together  with  nitrogen,  for  mak- 
ing muscles  and  blood,  but  not  one  is  found  connected 
with  carbon,  which  furnishes  fat  and  heat,  so  that  those 
articles  of  food  which  are  found  in  the  tables  to  con- 
tain the  most  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  elements  gen- 
erally contain  most  iron.  (See  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
pages  121-125.) 

To  prevent  chlorosis,  therefore,  mothers  have  only  to 
see  that  their  daughters  always  live  on  food  containing 
all  its  natural  elements ;  and  to  cure  it,  they  have  but 
to  select  the  articles  of  natural  food  which  contain  most 
phosphatic  elements. 


HOW  TO  PRESEKVE  HEALTH. 


151 


VIGILANCE  IS  THE  PEICE  OF  HEALTH. 

Seeing  among  the  barefooted  and  neglected  children 
in  the  streets  more  vigor  and  health  than  among  the 
better  classes  of  children,  we  might  at  first  sight  con- 
clude that  children  most  neglected  were  most  healthy ; 
but  looking  into  the  matter,  and  learning  facts,  we  find 
that  the  robust  only  are  seen  in  the  streets,  because  all 
the  rest  are  dead  and  buried,  and  out  of  sight :  while 
children  among  the  better  classes  are  kept  alive  in  spite 
of  puny  frames,  flabby  muscles,  pale  faces,  and  misera- 
ble carbonaceous  diet,  by  better  care  in  regard  to  air, 
warmth,  cleanliness,  &c.,  in  their  houses,  and  especially 
in  their  sleeping-rooms,  as  well  as  by  less  unwholesome 
food. 

Look  at  the  bills  of  mortality  in  Boston,  week  after 
week,  the  year  round,  and  you  see  that  more  than  two 
of  foreign  birth  die  to  every  one  of  American ;  and  yet 
the  foreign  population  are  not  as  numerous  as  the  Amer- 
ican. And  this  is  not  a  full  illustration  of  the  impor- 
tance of  obeying  Nature's  laws,  for  many  American 
citizens  live  in  the  same  degraded  and  neglected  condi- 
tion; but  their  deaths  being  recorded  with  those  of 
American  born,  diminish  the  contrast. 

And  on  the  other  hand,  many  foreigners  live  as 
carefully  as  Americans  ;  and  their  deaths  being  recorded 


152 


HOW  TO  PRESERVE  HEALTH. 


with  those  of  foreign-born  citizens,  diminish  also  the 
contrast.  What  can  account  for  this  fearful  mortality 
among  the  neglected  poor  but  disobedience  to  Nature's 
laws  ? 

In  winter  they  breathe  the  air  over  and  over  again, 
because  tliey  cannot  afford  fuel  necessary  to  give  ven- 
tilation, and  are  also  poorly  protected  from  the  cold. 
And  in  summer  they  breathe  air  also  contaminated  with 
impurities  from  neglected  drains  and  vegetable  and 
animal  decomposition,  because  in  such  localities  rents 
are  cheap.  And  then,  for  the  same  reason  also,  they 
live  on  stale  vegetables  and  fruits,  and  other  unwhole- 
some food. 

Of  course,  under  these  ckcumstances  they  are  much 
more  liable  to  be  sick,  and  when  sick,  are  almost  sure 
to  die ;  and  the  wonder  to  me  is,  not  that  so  many  die, 
but  that  any  should  be  tough  enough  to  live.  But  this 
class  of  population  is  terribly  prolific,  as  well  as  terri- 
bly mortal,  and  on  that  account  fears  have  been  ex- 
pressed lest  they  should  outnumber  and  control  the 
better  classes.  But  a  little  attention  to  facts  will  dissi- 
pate all  such  fears. 

My  attention  was  first  called  to  this  subject  thirty- 
five  years  ago,  by  some  statistics  gathered  by  a  Swiss 
gentleman,  named  Francis  D'lvernois.  This  gentleman 
was  preparing  a  book  on  European  statistics,  &c.,  when 
a  w^riter  named  Morrow  D'Jannes,  discovering  the  fact 
that  in  a  miserable,  semi-savage  Russian  province  the 
number  of  births  far  exceeded  in  proportion  those  of 
other  European  nations,  and  making  the  same  mistake 


HOW  TO  PROLONG  LIFE. 


153 


as  that  to  which  I  have  referred,  wrote  an  alarming 
pamphlet  to  prove  that  the  time  would  come  when 
these  miserable  Russians  would  overrun  all  Europe, 
and  control  its  destinies. 

Dlvernois,  seeing  the  blunder  of  D'Jannes,  pub- 
lished what  statistics  he  had  collected  on  this  subject, 
and  proved  to  my  mind  that  a  degraded  and  neglected 
people,  however  prolific,  can  never  outnumber  or  over- 
come a  virtuous  people,  who  take  care  of  themselves. 
There  may  be  found  among  them  the  hardy  and  robust, 
because  such  are  too  tough  to  be  killed  by  any  neglect 
or  abuse,  as  is  seen  in  the  low  classes  in  Boston  to 
which  I  have  referred,  and  a^ong  our  native  Indians, 
who  seem  hardy  and  robust,  while  their  race  is  dying 
out.  Still  a  merciful  Providence  has  kindly  provided 
that  beyond  a  limited  extent  misery  cannot  perpetuate 
itself ;  while  they  who  live  virtuous  lives,  and  best  take 
care  of  themselves,  have  the  best  average  amount  of 
health  and  the  greatest  average  length  of  life. 

D'lvernois  first  compared  the  people  of  this  miserable 
Russian  province  with  the  Swiss  people  in  the  canton 
of  Vaud.  The  Russians  were  miserably  fed,  badly 
housed,  and  badly  provided  for  in  everything  that  per- 
tained to  the  comforts  of  life ;  while  the  Swiss  parish, 
under  the  care  of  a  worthy  dean,  were  comfortable, 
virtuous,  contented  and  happy,  living  on  a  generous 
diet  of  such  meats  and  vegetables  as  by  industry  the 
country  was  made  to  produce. 

The  births  in  Montroux,  the  Swiss  parish,  were  one 
to  forty-five  inhabitants,  while  in  the  Russian  province 


154  HOW  TO  PROLONG  LIFE. 

they  were  one  to  seventeen.  But  in  Montroux  only 
one  died  in  every  sixty-four,  while  in  Eussia  one  died 
in  every  twenty-five.  So  that,  notwithstanding  the 
frightful  number  of  births  in  the  Eussian  province,  the 
Swiss  gained  in  population  the  fastest. 

But  supposing  it  possible  that  this  result  might  be  de- 
pendent on  the  difFerence  in  climate,  he  compares  the 
same  Eussian  statistics  with  those  of  Leysin,  a  parish 
among  the  Alps,  where  the  people  lived  on  the  natural 
food  of  that  rugged  region,  obtained  by  industry  and 
hard  work,  and  were  also  a  virtuous,  contented,  and 
happy  people.  Here  the  proportion  of  deaths  was 
somewhat  greater  than*  in  the  remarkably  healthy 
parish  of  Montroux,  but  still  they  were  less  than  half 
as  numerous  as  among  the  Eussians,  although  their 
climate  was  vastly  superior  to  that  of  the  Swiss.  And 
these  are  but  samples  of  facts  which  go  to  establish  my 
position. 

At  the  time  these  statistics  were  gathered  by  D'lver- 
nois,  I  collected  what  I  could  to  show  the  chances  of 
life  in  America  as  compared  with  those  in  Europe  and 
other  countries;  and  from  old  rusty  minutes  of  a 
lyceum  lecture,  written  in  1833,  I  make  the  following 
extracts :  — 

"  In  our  own  country,  especially  in  our  own  happy 
New  England,  very  few  ever  suffer  for  want  of  food ; 
and  probably  no  people  in  the  world  are  more  virtuous, 
or  take  better  care  of  themselves.  From  the  landing 
of  our  Pilgrim  fathers  we  have  eaten  liberally  of  meats, 
grains,  vegetables,  and  fruits,  in  their  natural  state,  and 


HOW  TO  PROLONG  LIFE.  155 

if  we  look  the  world  over  we  shall  find  no  people  a 
greater  proportion  of  whom  have  lived  to  old  age,  and 
no  people  have  increased  more  rapidly  in  a  healthy 
population.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  our  sta- 
tistics are  so  imperfect;  but  imperfect  as  they  are,  we 
may  yet  derive  from  them  decided  evidence  of  the 
wholesome  qualities  of  good  beef  and  pork,  with 
Indian  corn,  rye,  beans,  with  other  vegetables  and 
fruits,  cooked  with  Puritanic  plainness,  and  eaten  with 
the  relish  which  a  virtuous  and  industrious  life  always 
give  to  natural  food. 

*'In  Montroux,  the  most  healthy  parish  in  Europe 
from  which  statistics  have  been  taken,  one  died  in  sixty- 
four,  as  before  stated.  In  all  the  New  Eno-land  Statesr 
the  deaths  only  average  one  in  seventy-five ;  so  that  our 
prospect  of  living  to  the  age  of  sixty  is  twenty  per  cent, 
better  than  the  people  of  the  most  healthy  parish  in 
Europe.  And  surely  our  climate  is  not  better  than  that 
of  Europe,  especially  that  of  Montroux,  which  is  situ- 
ated in  a  remarkably  pleasant  valley  at  the  foot  of  the 
Alps.  Let  us  look  also  at  the  people  of  other  coun- 
tries, and  compare  our  statistics  with  theirs. 

"  In  Batavia,  the  deaths  are  one  in  twenty-six ;  in 
Trinidad,  one  in  twenty-seven;  in  Martinique,  one  in 
twenty-eight ;  in  Bombay,  one  in  twenty ;  in  Havana, 
one  in  thirty-three.  So  that  we  find  that  the  deaths  in 
these  countries  are  on  an  average  nearly  three  times 
more  numerous  than  in  New  England.  We  find  by 
these  statistics,  that  in  the  countries  where  the  people 
are  the  most  miserably  fed  and  cared  for,  the  average 


J 56  HOW  TO  PROLONG  LITE. 

length  of  life  is  shortest ;  while  those  which  approxi- 
mate most  nearly  in  regular,  virtuous  habits,  and  in  the 
comforts  of  life,  to  New  England,  approximate  to  us 
also  in  the  average  length  of  life." 

Whether  or  not  our  statistics  will  compare  now  with 
other  countries  as  favorably  as  they  did  thirty-five  years 
ago,  when  the  above  was  written,  the  deductions  from 
the  facts  are  valuable,  estabUshing,  as  they  do,  the  doc- 
trine that  that  people  live  the  longest,  and  enjoy  the 
best  health,  who  take  best  care  of  themselves,  and  live 
most  nearly  in  accordance  with  Nature's  laws. 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  NEURALGIA.  167 


HOW  TO  PEEVENT  APOPLEXY,  NEURAL- 
GI'A,  AND  NERVOUS  DISEASES. 

If  you  look  at  the  analysis  of  the  brain  and  nerves, 
Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  87,  you  will  find  them 
composed  of  albumen,  a  fatty  substance  called  cerebral 
fat,  phosphorus,  mineral  salts  and  water ;  and  that  the 
mature,  healthy,  adult  brain  contains  more  albumen, 
more  phosphorus,  and  more  mineral  salts,  but  less 
cerebral  fat,  and  less  water  than  the  brain  of  infants 
or  idiots. 

The  elements  that  are  thus  shown  to  be  needed  are 
found  in  all  natural  food,  combined  with  nitrogenous, 
or  muscle-making  principles,  but  not  with  the  car- 
bonaceous, or  heating  principles ;  in  milk,  and  eggs, 
and  fish,  and  the  grains,  &c.,  in  their  natural  state, 
but  not  in  starch,  any  fatty  substance,  or  sugar.  Those, 
therefore,  who  live  mostly  on  white  bread,  butter,  and 
confectionery,  which  contain  none,  or  very  little  of  these 
elements  which  keep  the  brain  and  nerves  in  a  healthy 
condition,  are  those  who  suffer  most  from  headaches, 
neuralgia,  and  nervous  diseases,  and  those  who,  finally, 
die  of  apoplexy. 

We  have  noticed,  also,  in  another  chapter,  that 
nursing  and  expectant  mothers,  who  live  on  carbona- 
ceous food,  are  peculiarly  liable  to  toothache,  headache, 


158  HOW  TO  PREVENT  APOPLEXY. 

neuralgia,  and  nervous  disorders,  because  Nature  favors 
the  infint  at  the  expense  of  the  mother,  and  therefore, 
if  the  right  elements  are  not  furnished  sufficient  for 
child  and  mother,  the  mother  suffers  first.  These 
hints  clearly  indicate  the  course  of  diet  necessary  to 
prevent  headache,  neuralgia,  nervous  excitements,  apo- 
plexy, and  all  other  diseases  dependent  on  ,the  healthy 
action  of  the  nerves  or  brain ;  and  this  on  the  simple 
principle,  so  often  explained,  that  no  organ  or  function 
can  perform  its  appropriate  duties,  or  keep  in  health, 
without  a  constant  and  regular  supply  of  the  elements 
composing  or  used  in  that  organ  or  function. 

For  all  these  sufferings  from  headache,  neuralgia, 
hysterics,  &c.,  from  which  the  young  suffer  so  much, 
and  many  so  intensely,  the  remedy  is  simple  and  cer- 
tain. Avoid  the  heating,  unnatural  articles  of  food, 
out  of  which  have  been  taken  the  elements  before 
enumerated  as  necessary  to  keep  the  brain  and  nerves 
in  order,  —  such  as  white  bread,  butter,  fat,  and  sugar, 
and  all  the  pastry  and  confectionery  which  are  made  up 
of  those  heating  principles,  —  and  take,  instead,  only 
natural  food,  in  which  are  retained  the  elements  needed, 
and  the  cure  is  cert.ain. 

Apoplexy,  also,  which  seldom,  I  think  never,  occurs 
except  in  those  who  have  been  for  a  long  time  overfed 
with  carbonaceous  food,  almost  never  occurring  in  per- 
sons under  forty  years  of  age,  and  not  in  persons  so 
young  as  that,  unless  they  have  added  to  carbonaceous 
food  the  stimulus  of  alcoholic  drinks  or  strong  spices  and 
condiments,  is,  of  course,  prevented  by  abstaining  from 


HOW  TO  CURE  APOPLEXY. 


159 


the  articles  which  cause  it,  and  taking,  instead,  those 
which  contain  the  elements  necessary  for  the  healthy- 
action  of  the  brain. 

My  attention  was,  many  years  ago,  particularly  di- 
rected to  this  subject  from  motives  of  strong  personal 
interest  in  it ;  and  I  have  often  had  occasion  to  prescribe 
for  others  the  course  that  I  have  found  useful  to  myself, 
witli  a  success  which  fully  confirms  me  in  the  view  of 
the  subject  just  given. 

At  the  age  of  forty  my  father  commenced  having 
premonitory  symptoms  of  apoplexy,  and  from  the  age 
of  forty  to  fifty  had  a  number  of  slight  attacks,  and 
one  quite  severe ;  but  he  made  no  change  in  his  habits, 
eating  habitually  highly-carbonaceous  food,  and  drink- 
ing, as  the  custom  then  was,  brandy,  or  some  other 
alcoholic  drink,  three  or  four  times  a  day,  and,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-four,  he  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy.  At 
the  age  of  forty  I  also,  having  inherited  his  form  and 
constitutional  characteristics,  commenced  having  the 
same  kind  of  premonitory  symptoms  of  apoplexy, 
which  also  continued  and  increased  till  after  the  age 
of  fifty,  although,  supposing  then  that  that  was  all 
that  would  be  necessary,  I  abstained  from  all  alcoholic 
drinks  and  stimulating  condiments ;  but  having  an  at- 
tack that  rendered  me  unconscious  for  an  hour  or  more, 
I  found  something  more  was  necessary  to  save  me  from 
my  father's  fate.  After  that  I  gradually  diminished  my 
carbonaceous  food  till  I  came  up,  I  think,  to  the  true 
philosophy  of  eating;  and  now,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
four,  I  have,  I  think,  eradicated  all  hereditary  tendency 


160 


HOW  TO  CURE  APOPLEXY. 


to  apoplexy,  not  having  had,  for  some  years,  even  a 
headache,  or  other  premonitory  symptom  of  it;  and, 
besides  having  disposed  of  other  infirmities,  I  have 
more  energy,  more  power  of  endurance,  mentally  and 
physically,  and  more  recuperative  power,  than  I  had 
at  the  age  of  forty. 

My  son,  also,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  began  to  have 
the  same  premonitory  symptoms  as  his  father  and 
grandfather  had  before  him ;  but,  by  abstaining  from 
stimulants  and  carbonaceous  food,  has  in  two  years 
quite  overcome  them.  And  I  make  the  sacrifice  of 
publishing  these  personal  items  in  hope  of  benefiting 
others  who  may  have  similar  hereditary  tendencies,  and 
in  the  hope  of  corroborating,  if  not  confirming,  the 
opinion  elsewhere  expressed,  that  hereditary  diseases 
are  not  necessarUy  incurable,  or  hereditary  tendencies 
eradicable. 


DEFECTIVE  TEETH, 


161 


THE   CAUSE  AND  PREVENTION   OF  DE^ 
FECTIVE  TEETH. 

In  one  important  respect  the  teeth  differ  from  other 
organs  of  the  animal  economy  —  they  have  no  recupera- 
tive power.  But,  to  compensate  for  this  defect,  they 
are  made  of  materials  more  indestructible  than  those  of 
any  other  organs  ;  so  that  being  properly  supplied  with 
the  elements  requisite  for  their  formation  and  nourish- 
ment, and  used  in  accordance  with  Nature's  laws,  they 
last  the  lifetime  of  the  animal,  and  are  not  subject  to 
disease.  Thus  we  find  in  animals  in  their  natural  state 
sound  teeth  to  the  end  of  life. 

The  elephant  a  hundred  years  old  has  no  defective 
teeth,  unless  they  have  been  injured  by  accident,  or 
have  been  made  to  eat  improper  food  in  the  service 
of  man.    But  animals  subjected  to  unnatural  food  have 
^--^ective  teeth,  shorter  lived  than  man,  and  the 

enamel  less  firm,  are  sooner  influenced  by  improper 
food. 

The  teeth  of  the  cow,  for  example,  that  is  made  to 
live  on  the  dregs  of  breweries  and  distilleries,  begin  to 
decay  in  a  very  short  time.  But  in  this  case  the  cause 
of  the  decay  is  not  physiological  so  much  as  mechanical, 
for  it  is  found  that  the  decay  is  more  or  less  rapid  ac- 
cording to  the  temperature  of  the  swill  which  they  are 
11 


162       THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  TEETH. 

obliged  to  eat  —  those  at  a  distance  from  the  distillery, 
whose  food  gets  cold  before  it  reaches  them,  preserving 
their  teeth  longer  than  those  who,  being  near,  take  it 
hot  from  the  vat. 

This  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  different 
laws,  the  disobedience  of  which  is  the  cause  of  de- 
fective teeth,  as  it  is  of  all  our  diseases  and  sufferings. 
The  universe,  and  everything  in  it,  whether  of  mind 
or  matter,  from  the  inorganic  atom  that  can  be  seen 
only  with  a  microscope  to  the  mind  of  the  highest 
archangel,  is  moved,  and  changed,  and  regulated  by 
fixed  laws  ;  and  while  these  laws  are  permitted  to  act 
harmoniously,  all  is  well,  but  disobedience  to  any  one 
brings  its  penalties.  All  suffering  and  all  defects  may, 
therefore,  be  traced  to  the  disobedience  of  some  law  of 
our  being ;  and  the  question  before  us  is.  Why  do  not 
our  teeth,  like  the  teeth  of  other  animals,  last  our  life- 
time? That  they  are  made  as  perfect,  if  the  right 
materials  are  furnished,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt. 

But  are  the  necessary  elements  furnished  to  children 
as  they  are  to  the  young  of  other  animals?  And  do 
we  not  subject  our  teeth  to  deleterious  influences  from 
which  animals  that  obey  their  nat,ural  instincts  are 
exempt  ? 

The  forming  young  of  other  animals,  while  depen- 
dent on  the  mother,  get  lime,  and  phosphorus,  and 
potash,  and  silex,  and  all  the  other  elements  of  which 
the  teeth  are  composed,  from  the  blood  or  milk  of  the 
mother,  and  she  gets  them  from  the  food  which  Nature 
provides  containing  these  elements  in  their  natural  pro- 
portions. 


THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  TEETH.  163 

But  where  can  the  child  in  its  forming  state  get 
these  necessary  elements,  whose  mother  lives  princi- 
pally on  starch,  and  butter,  and  sugar,  neither  of  which 
contains  a  particle  of  lime,  phosphorus,  potash,  or  silex? 
Nature  performs  no  miracles.  She  makes  teeth  as  glass 
is  made,  by  combining  the  elements  which  compose 
them  according  to  her  own  chemical  principles.  And 
this  illustration  is  the  more  forcible,  because  the  com- 
position of  the  enamel  of  the  teeth  and  of  glass  is  very 
nearly  identical ;  both,  at  least,  requiring  the  combina- 
tion of  silex  with  some  alkaline  principle. 

If,  then,  the  mother  of  an  unborn  or  nursing  infant 
lives  on  white  bread  and  butter,  pastry,  and  confection- 
ery, which  contain  no  silex,  and  very  little  of  the  other 
elements  which  compose  the  teeth,  nothing  short  of  a 
miracle  can  give  her  a  child  with  good  teeth,  and  es- 
pecially with  teeth  well  enamelled. 

Nature  does  what  she  can  for  innocent  and  helpless 
unborn  and  nursing  infants,  by  using  all  available 
materials,  even  getting  them  from  the  teeth  of  the 
mother.  And  hence,  it  is  well  known,  that  starch, 
butter,  and  sugar-eating  young  mothers  always  suffer 
most  from  their  teeth,  and  go  to  the  dentist  most,  while 
an  infant  is  dependent  on  them  for  support,  as  they 
suffer  also,  at  these  times,  from  neuralgia,  headaches, 
dyspepsia,  &c.,  as  I  have  elsewhere  explained,  for 
want  of  the  elements  which  keep  the  brain  and  nerves 
in  a  healthy  condition. 

Thus,  instead  of  "visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children,"  Nature,  as  far  as  possible,  protects 


164    now  TO  GET  SOUND  TEETH  FOR  CHILDREN. 

innocent  children,  and  visits  on  their  mothers  the  pen- 
alty for  their  own  transgressions.  But  there  are  casee 
where,  in  accordance  with  natural  law,  children  must 
suffer  for  the  transgressions  of  their  parents.  And  de- 
fective teeth  are  an  illustration  of  this  statement.  The 
enamel  of  the  teeth,  wanting,  as  it  is,  and  from  the 
nature  of  its  composition  must  be,  in  all  recuperative 
power,  if  once  broken  or  defective  can  never  be  re- 
stored, and  the  toothache  that  follows  from  the  inflam- 
mation and  exposure  of  the  nerves,  &c.,  the  child  must 
suffer,  while  the  mother  alone  is  responsible.  But  this 
is  an  exceptional  case ;  all  other  organs,  having  recu- 
perative power,  are  capable  of  restoration,  even  though 
they  may  be  feeble  and  defective  in  consequence  of  the 
mother's  neglect;  and  even  this  exception  may,  by 
restoring  deficient  elements,  be  confined  to  the  first 
set  of  teeth.  This,  being  a  very  important  practical 
point,  deserves  to  be  strongly  presented. 

Second  Teeth  may  be  made  Somid  where  the  first  were 
Defective, 

The  second  tooth  of  a  child  is  fornaed  from  materials 
furnished  in  the  blood,  secreted,  or  taken  up,  and  used 
in  forming  it  by  a  mysterious  power  imparted  to  the 
little  gland,  or  nucleus,  placed  for  that  purpose  directly 
under  the  first  tooth,  but  entirely  independent  of  it. 
This  mysterious  power  acts  in  this,  as  in  all  other 
organs,  with  unerring  certainty,  and  if  the  right  ele- 
ments are  furnished  in  the  blood,  will  be  sure  to  find 


HOW  TO  GET  SOUND  TEETH  FOR  CHILDREN.  165 

them,  and  furnish  them  in  right  proportions  to  the 
forming  tooth. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  more  certain  that  glass  can  be 
made  by  using  the  right  materials  in  the  right  way 
than  it  is  certain  that  teeth,  good  and  sound,  will  be 
made  by  using  the  right  materials  in  the  right  way. 
Cheer  up,  then,  disconsolate  mothers,  who  w^eep  and 
mourn,  as  you  must^  for  the  toothache  of  your  little 
one,  for  which  you  feel  to  be  responsible.  If  the  second 
teeth  are  yet  to  come,  you  have  still  space  for  repent- 
ance, and  works  meet  for  repentance. 

But  what  articles  of  food  will  make  good  teeth? 
Good  milk  will  make  good  teeth,  for  it  makes  them 
for  calves.  Good  meat  will  make  good  teeth,  for  it 
makes  them  for  lions  and  wolves.  Good  vegetables 
and  fruits  will  make  good  teeth,  for  they  make  them 
for  monkeys. 

Good  corn,  oats,  barley,  wheat,  rye,  and  indeed 
everything  that  grows,  will  make  good  teeth,  if  eaten 
in  their  natural  state,  no  elements  being  taken  out ;  for 
every  one  of  them  does  make  teeth  for  horses,  cows, 
sheep,  or  some  other  animal.  But  starch,  sugar,  lard, 
or  butter  will  not  make  good  teeth.  You  tried  them 
all  with  your  child's  first  teeth,  and  failed ;  and  your 
neighbors  have  tried  them,  and  indeed  all  Christendom 
has  tried  them,  and  the  result  is  that  a  man  or  woman 
at  forty  with  good,  sound  teeth  is  a  very  rare  exception. 

Nothing,  then,  can  be  clearer  than  youi  duty  to  keep 
from  your  children  confectionery,  pastry,  white  bread 
and  butter,  gingerbread  and  sweet  cakes,  and  feed 


'l66  IS  SUGAR  INJURIOUS  TO  TEETH? 

them  instead  on  milk,  unbolted  bread,  meats,  eggs, 
fruits,  vegetables,  or  anything  else  in  short  which  they 
best  relish,  from  which  have  not  been  taken  any  of 
their  native  elements.  But  you  must  attend  to  this 
early ;  for  if  children  live  on  carbonaceous  food,  and 
the  necessary  elements  are  not  furnished  till  the  second 
teeth  are  formed,  "  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for 
sin,  but  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment."  The  teeth 
will  either  come  in  a  defective  state,  or  the  enamel  will 
be  thin  and  easily  broken,  and  the  juices  of  the  mouth, 
beino-  admitted  into  the  tooth,  cause  its  decay,  without 
the  possibility  of  cure.  For  a  time,  the  orifice  being 
filled,  the  decay  may  be  suspended;  but  the  enamel 
being  imperfect  and  thin,  will  soon  give  way  in  some 
other  place,  and  there  is  no  saving  them. 

Are  Sugar  and  other  purely  Carbonaceous  Food  posi- 
tively injurious  to  the  Teeth,  so  that  they  can  never 
be  safely  taken? 

Sugar,  starch,  butter,  lard,  &c.,  contain  necessary 
elements  for  furnishing  animal  heat  and  fat,  and  no 
elements  directly  injurious  to  the  teeth  or  any  other 
organ;  and  if  we  took  them  only  as  needed,  would 
never  do  harm  ;  but  furnished,- as  they  are  to  the  requi- 
site extent,  in  the  staple  articles  of  food,  as  milk,  all 
kinds  of  grain,  meats,  &c.,  and  getting  as  we  do  from 
them  all  that  the  system  requires,  the  butter,  lard, 
sugar,  &c.,  which  we  take  either  combined  with  one 
another  or  with  articles  of  natural  food,  go  to  furnish 


EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  ON  TEETH. 


167 


extra  fat  or  heat  if  digested,  and  if  not  digested,  —  as 
mostly  they  are  not,  —  go  to  produce  disorder  to  the 
stomach  and  digestive  organs,  in  passing  off  in  an  un- 
digested and  fermented  state.  And  this  extra  food, 
and  these  derangements  whi^h  it  produces,  prevent  the 
taking  enough  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  food  to  sup- 
ply the  teeth  and  other  organs  with  their  necessary  nour- 
ishment.    (See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  19.) 

They  do  harm  also,  undoubtedly,  to  the  teeth  by  foul 
secretions  which  they  produce,  and  which  are  deposited 
in  sordes  or  tartar  on  them ;  and  also  by  heating  the 
blood,  rendering  the  gums  more  susceptible  to  inflam- 
mations, and  the  nerves  more  susceptible  to  pain. 

But  we  do  not,  and  we  need  not  always  eat  such 
articles  as  contain  a  sufficient  amount  of  carbonaceous 
matter,  and  therefore  need  not  always  abstain  from 
butter,  sugar,  or  fine  flour. 

If  we  eat  beefsteak,  or  any  other  meat,  without  its 
natural  fat,  there  is  no  harm  in  using,  instead,  butter, 
which  makes  it  palatable,  and  furnishes  at  the  same 
time  a  substitute  for  its  natural  fat.  Most  kinds  of 
fish  also  have  not  sufficient  onrbonaceous  matter,  and 
especially  in  winter  require  fat  pork,  butter,  or  lard  to 
furnish  heating  material.  Fruits  also  contain  very 
little  heating  matter,  but  what  they  do  contain  is  in  the 
form  of  sugar. 

Sugar,  therefore,  seems  to  be  adapted  to  them,  and 
may  be  useful  with  them,  especially  if  they  are  too  acid  to 
be  agreeable.  Flour  also,  or  starch  in  any  other  form, 
may  be  used  with  cheese,  or  other  concentrated  nitroge- 


168  EFFECTS  OF  FOOD  ON  TEETH. 

nous  or  phosphatic  food,  especially  if  the  bowels  are 
irritable  and  cannot  bear  coarse  food,  or  if  some  coarse 
food  be  eaten  at  the  same  meal,  to  supply  the  necessary 
waste.  So  that,  used  with  discretion,  either  of  these 
mischief-making  carbonaceous  articles  may  be  eaten  at 
times  with  impunity  ;  and  in  small  quantities  will  never 
do  essential  harm,  if  we  are  careful  to  take  with  them 
other  food  in  sufficient  quantities  to  supply  the  neces- 
sary elements  which  they  do  not  contain. 

But  to  attempt  to  live,  and  bring  up  children,  on 
white  bread  and  molasses  or  butter,  cakes,  pies,  ginger- 
bread, flour,  starch,  farina,  or  rice  puddings,  with  sugar, 
molasses,  or  butter  for  sauce,  is  to  starve  not  only  the 
teeth,  but  the  muscles,  bones,  all  solid  tissues,  nerves 
and  brains ;  for  there  is  in  neither  of  these  articles  but 
very  little  food  for  either. 

For  a  striking  illustration  of  the  importance  of  these 
suggestions,  see  a  record  of  experiments  on  Scottish 
prisoners  (Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  99),  and  espe- 
cially notice  one  fact :  The  food  in  Dundee  and  Edin- 
burgh prisons  was  exactly  the  same,  except  that  in 
Edinburgh  milk  was  eaten  with  oatmeal  porridge  and 
cakes,  and  in  Dundee  molasses.  At  the  end  of  two 
months  the  milk-eating  prisoners  had  about  one  pound 
each  more  of  flesh  than  those  who  ate  molasses,  and 
were  in  much  better  general  condition. 

In  view  of  this  experiment,  and  the  principle  which 
it  illustrates,  I  induced  the  matron  of  an  orphan  asy- 
lum, where  the  children  had  been  accustomed  to  eat 
bread  and  molasses  twice  a  day,  to  give  them  bread 


WHY  YANKEES  HAVE  BAD  TEETH.  169 

and  milk  instead ;  and  the  improvement  in  their  condi- 
tion was  manifest  almost  immediately. 

That  there  are  other  predisposing  and  exciting  causes 
of  defective  teeth  besides  extra  carbonaceous  or  defi- 
cient phosphatic  elements  in  food,  there  is  no  doubt,  as 
I  shall  presently  explain;  but  the  theory  is  certainly 
corroborated  by  observation,  that  this  is  the  principal 
cause. 

People  who.  live  on  natural  Food  have  good  Teeth, 
while  those  who  live  on  extra  Carbonaceous  Food 
have  bad  Teeth. 

Savages,  whether  herbivorous  or  carnivorous,  have 
good  teeth.  Our  Pilgrim  fathers,  who  ate  their  grains 
and  their  meats  as  Nature  furnished  them,  with  all 
their  requisite  ekments,  had  good  teeth,  as  have  also 
the  laboring  classes  of  Europe,  and  indeed  of  the 
whole  world  who  live  in  a  similar  manner;  and  if 
there  be  a  people,  or  any  considerable  number  of  a 
people,  living  on  natural  food,  who  have  much  work 
.  for  dentists,  I  have  not  heard  of  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  we,  the  degenerate  sons  of  our 
healthy  and  robust  Pilgrim  fathers,  laboring  men  and 
all,  who  make  fine_  flour,  butter,  sugar,  lard,  and  fat 
pork  our  staple  articles  of  food,  more  generally  than 
any  other  people  in  the  world,  have  more  worK  lor 
dentists.  And  even  our  Celtic  and  Hibernian  citizens, 
who  come  to  this  country  from  their  diet  of  oatmeal 
porridge,  barley-cake,  cheese  and  buttermilk,  with  good 


170         COLD  AND  HEAT  AFFECT  THE  TEETH. 

teeth  at  any  age,  falling  into  our  habits,  and  using  the 
very  finest  flour,  with  butter  and  lard,  and  perhaps  salt 
pork,  with  vegetables  swimming  in  grease,  soon  begin 
to  lose  their  teeth,  and  the  teeth  of  their  children  are 
as  bad  as  those  of  native  born  citizens  of  the  purest 
Yankee  blood. 

We  have,  then,  both  from  the  structure  of  the  teeth, 
and  from  collateral  evidence,  indubitable  proof  that  good 
teeth  are  made  and  kept  in  repair  only  with  food  con- 
taining the  elements  of  which  good  teeth  are  con- 
structed, of  which  starch,  butter,  all  oils,  and  sugar 
contain  not  a  particle.  Of  other  causes  of  decay  in 
teeth,  that  next  in  importance  to  want  of  proper  ele- 
ments, is  the  irregular  temperature  to  which  they  are 
exposed. 

Alternation  of  Heat  and  Cold  a  Canse  of  Decay  of 
Teeth. 

To  understand  this  statement,  we  have  but  to  con- 
sider that  the  enamel  of  the  teeth,  which  protects  the 
internal  parts  from  decay,  and  glass  are  not  only  alike, 
as  we  have  explained,  in  chemical  composition,  but  in 
density  of  structure  and  frangibility.  They  are  also 
alike  under  the  influence  of  the  physical  law  of  expan- 
sion by  heat  and  contraction  by  cold,  and  are  affected 
by  it  as  other  substances  are  of  the  same  density  and 
frangibility.  If  a  thin  shell  of  glass,  of  irregular  shape 
like  the  enamel  of  the  teeth,  were  to  be  immersed  in  hot 
water,  and  then  suddenly  into  cold,  it  would  crack, 


COLD  AND  HEAT  AFFECT  THE  TEETH.  171 

probably  in  many  directions,  and  the  continued  alterna- 
tion of  heat  and  cold  would,  after  a  while,  so  open  these 
cracks  as  to  admit  through  them  air  and  water.  And 
must  not  the  effect  on  the  teeth  be  the  same,  exposed  as 
they  are  at  one  time  to  almost  boiling  hot  tea  and  coffee, 
and  at  another  to  ice-water,  or  ice-cream  —  a  change 
of  temperature  of  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred 
degrees  ? 

If  once  cracked,  and  the  air  and  juices  of  the  mouth 
admitted,  there  being  no  remedial  power  to  heal  it, 
decay  is  inevitable;  for  though  at  one  decayed  point 
the  dentist  may,  by  filling  the  orifice  and  excluding  the 
air,  water,  &c.,  for  a  while  stop  or  prolong  the  process 
of  decay,  yet  at  other  weak  points  the  process  will  still 
go  on,  and  thus  the  teeth  are  lost. 

Brushing  and  cleaning  may  also  retard  the  process 
of  decay ;  but  brushing  with  a  stiff  brush  injures  the 
gums,  and  loosens  them  from  the  teeth,  to  which  they 
ought  firmly  to  adhere,  and  cleaning  with  acids  hastens 
the  decay,  by  decomposing  the  enamel ;  cleaning  with 
gritty,  grinding  substances  also  wears  it  off;  and  as 
most  dentifrices  are  composed  of  one  or  the  other  of 
these  deleterious  substances,  dentifrices  probably,  on  the 
whole,  do  much  more  harm  than  good. 

Cold  water  is  the  best  dentifrice,  but  even  that  would 
not  be  needed  if  we  lived  on  natural  food,  as  in  that 
case  no  sordes,  or  tartar,  or  any  impurities  gather  on 
the  teeth,  the  secretions  of  the  mouth  being  naturally 
pure  as  the  purest  water.  And  this  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  animals  which  live  on  natural  food  have  mouths 


172         COLD  AND  HEAT  AFFECT  THE  TEETH. 

and  teeth  perfectly  clean,  without  the  use  of  brushes 
and  dentifrices ;  and  that  these  devices  are  not  needed 
to  preserve  sound  teeth  is  also  shoMrn  by  the  same  fact. 

Elephants  preserve  their  teeth  a  hundred  years,  — 
some  say  five  hundred,  —  w^ithout  the  use  of  either 
tooth-brush  or  dentifrice,  and  the  tooth  of  the  elephant 
is  composed  of  precisely  the  same  elements  as  the  tooth 
of  man,  while  the  teeth  of  man  begin  to  decay  in  infan- 
cy, and  are  in  a  sound  state  on  an  average  probably  not 
more  than  ten  years. 

An  explanation  of  this  difference  will,  I  think,  cor- 
roborate my  view  of  the  cause  of  defective  teeth,  and 
sum  up  the  whole  matter. 

Elephants  live  always  on  natural  food,  and  always 
therefore  get  all  the  elements  necessary  for  making 
good  teeth,  and  for  keeping  them  in  health,  and  of 
course  baby  elephants,  having  these  elements  while  de- 
pendent on  the  mother,  commence  life  with  perfect 
teeth,  and  are  never  afterwards  without  means  of  pre- 
servino;  them.  Mothers  of  infant  children,  living  as 
they  do  in  New  England,  and  in  all  American  and 
European  cities,  cannot  furnish  their  dependent  chil- 
dren with  the  necessary  elements  for  making  good 
teeth;  and  children,  following  in  the  habits  of  their 
mothers,  never  get  the  right  materials  for  keeping 
their  teeth  in  repair. 

Again  ;  elephants,  always  taking  their  food  at  nearly 
the  same  temperature,  never  expose  their  teeth  to 
changes  that  crack  the  enamel  and  cause  them  to 
decay ;  while  men  and  women,  and  sometimes  even 


ARE  DEFECTIVE  TEETH  HEREDITARY?  173 

children,  between  their  tea  and  their  ice-water,  which 
they  sometimes  take  at  the  same  meal,  subject  them 
to  a  change  of  one  hundred  degrees  within  the  space 
of  fifteen,  and  sometimes  even  five  minutes. 

Are  Defective  Teeth  hereditary? 

Some  of  the  phenomena  of  hereditary  diseases  and 
deformities  are  very  mysterious  and  very  curious. 
Brown-Sequard,  in  a  very  interesting  lecture  on  Epi- 
lepsy, which  I  attended,  mentioned  a  fact  which  illus- 
trates this  statement.  While  in  the  hospital  in  Lon- 
don for  the  treatment  of  epilepsy,  he  experimented  on 
different  animals  with  a  view  to  determine  the  cause  of 
that  disease,  and  he  found  that  on  many  animals  he 
could  always  induce  epilepsy  by  irritating  the  spinal 
marrow  at  the  base  of  the  skull.  These  animals  would 
afterwards  be  subject  to  epilepsy;  and  Guinea  pigs, 
which  were  never  known  to  have  that  disease,  except 
after  such  an  operation,  would  not  only  have  it  after- 
wards, but  their  offspring  would  also  have  it,  showing 
that  diseases  can  be  inherited  that  were  induced  by 
accident  or  injury. 

I  know  two  children,  in  whom  the  first  joint  of  the 
little  finger  on  the  left  hand  stands  at  right  angles  with 
the  other  joints.  Their  father,  before  he  was  married, 
had  the  little  finger  on  the  same  hand  put  out  of  joint, 
and  it  was  never  set.  I  know  also  a  young  lady  who, 
when  particularly  interested  in  anything,  looks  at  it 
aslant;  and  this  was  the  peculiarity  of  her  mother, 


174  HOW  TO  TRANSMIT  GOOD  TEETH. 

whom  she  never  saw  after  she  was  six  weeks  old :  but 
it  was  the  peculiarity  of  the  maternal  ancestry  for  five 
or  six  generations,  one  or  two  in  a  family  only  having 
it.  And  having  been  traced  to  a  family  by  the  name 
of  Green,  it  is  familiarly  known  among  all  the  rela- 
tions as  the  "  Green  squint." 

I  knew  also  a  young  man,  whose  father  died  when  he 
was  an  infant,  who  always  reminded  his  friends  of  his 
father  by  a  peculiar  shrug  of  the  shoulders  and  a 
peculiar  gait. 

For  such  congenital  peculiarities  there  is  no  explana- 
tion, and  they  are  recorded  only  as  constitutional  curi- 
osities. But  there  is  a  class  of  hereditary  diseases,  to 
which  I  think  those  of  the  teeth  belong,  which  are  more 
explicable,  and  the  consideration  of  which  is  of  much 
greater  practical  importance  —  such  as  are  transmitted 
to  children  by  transmitting  the  wrong  habits  which  pro- 
duced them.  Such  can  be  warded  off  in  all  cases  and 
cured  in  all  cases,  except  those  of  the  teeth,  which  have 
no  recuperative  power,  by  changing  those  wrong  habits 
for  right  ones.  An  example  of  this  we  have  seen,  in 
the  chapter  on  Apoplexy,  where  strong  hereditary  ten- 
dencies were  warded  off,  and  even  the  symptoms  of  it 
removed,  by  appropriate  diet  and  regimen. 

What  we  inherit  of  diseases  and  imperfections  of  the 
teeth  is  merely  the  want  of  elements  necessary  for  good 
sound  teeth  ;  and  from  the  peculiar  construction  of  them, 
these  diseases  and  imperfections  can  never  be  restored, 
as  I  have  before  explained.  But  by  supplying  right 
elements,  the  next  generation  may  be  secured 'from  de- 


HOW  TO  TRANSMIT  GOOD  TEETH.  175 

fdctive  teeth,  and  even  the  present  generation,  as  has 
been  explained,  if  the  second  teeth  are  not  yet  formed. 

I  have  seen  a  mother  consoling  herself  for  the  defec- 
tive teeth  of  her  child,  on  the  ground  that  her  own 
teeth  were  bad,  and  her  mother's  before  her,  and  there- 
fore bad  teeth  must  be  inevitable  in  her'family.  The 
fact  is,  she  lived  on  carbonaceous  food,  and  drank  hot 
tea,  and  the  Kjonsequences  were  inevitable..  If  her 
child  lives  on  natural  food,  and  avoids  other  causes 
of  defective  teeth,  the  consequences  will  be  also  inev- 
itable, and  the  next  generation  will  begin  with  good 
teeth ;  and  by  continuing  the  course,  will  continue  to 
have  good  teeth,  and  they  will  be  transmitted  from 
generation  to  generation. 


176 


DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART.  ' 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  DISEASES  OF  HEAET. 

The  circulation  of  the  blood  is  a  mechanical  opera- 
tion, and  the  action  of  the  heart  on  the  blood,  drawing 
it  from  every  part  of  the  system  through  the  veins,  and 
sending  it  to  every  part  through  the  arteries,  is  like  the 
action  of  a  fire-engine  drawing  water  from  a  cistern 
through  a  hose,  and  sending  it,  at  the  same  time, 
%  through  another  hose,  into  every  part  of  a  building  on 
fire.  And  the  arrangement  of  valves  by  which  this 
double  action  is  accomplished  is  alike  in  both  opera- 
tions. 

Many  of  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  of  the 
action  of  the  heart  are  also  mechanical.  Sometimes 
there  is  an  organic  congenital  malformation  by  which 
the  heart  is  imperfect,  and,  of  course,  it  can  never 
perfectly  perform  its  function,  and  the  circulation  is 
irreo-ular  and  defective.  Sometimes  the  valves  get 
out  of  order,  or  become  hardened  like  bone,  and  act 
very  imperfectly  in  preventing  the  regurgitation  of 
blood,  and,  of  course,  the  circulation  is  deranged. 
Sometimes  the  accumulation  of  fat  around  the  heart 
prevents  its  free  expansion,  and  embarrasses  its  action. 
Sometimes  contraction  of  the  chest,  as  in  tight  dressing, 
embarrasses  the  action  of  the  heart,  and  palpitation  and 
fainting  are  produced  ;  and  this,  indeed,  is  so  commonly 


DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART.  177 

the  cause  of  fainting  that  everybody  almost  instinctively 
cuts  the  strings  at  once,  in  such  cases,  as  a  rational 
means  of  relief. 

Sometimes  the  embarrassment  is  from  increased 
pressure  of  the  blood,  causing  distention  of  the  blood- 
vessels and  of  the  heart.  Sometimes  the  embarrass- 
ment and  irregular  action  are  caused  by  irritabihty  -of 
the  neivous  system,  and  sometimes  by  overheated  and 
stimulating  blood.  We  may  not  be  able  perfectly  to 
understand  the  cause  of  all  these  different  difficulties 
or  diseases  of  the  heart ;  but  they  are  all  undoubtedly 
connected  with  erroneous  diet  or  erroneous  habits,  for 
other  animals  in  their  native  conditions  have  none  of 
these  troubles  or  diseases,  although  the  circulation  is 
effected  by  the  same  mechanical  arrangement. 

How  congenital  defects,  or  ossification  of  the  valves 
are  produced,  I  do  not  profess  to  understand ;  but  the 
cause  and  means  of  preventing  and  curing,  or,  at  least, 
alleviating  the  other  difficulties,  I  think  can  be  under- 
stood and  explained. 

As  we  cannot  stop  the  heart,  to  repair  its  valves 
when  once  deranged,  as  we  can  stop  an  engine  for 
repairs;  and  as  Nature  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  repair  ossified  or  displaced  valves,  that  trouble 
can  never  be  removed,  when  once  established.  And 
"this  is  true  of  enlargement  of  the  heart,  or  arteries, 
or  veins  about  the  heart,  or  indeed  of  any  other  or- 
ganic affection.  And  in  such  cases  the  question  to 
be  considered  is,  How  can  such  persons  live,  so  as 
to  be  comfortable,  with  such  difficulties?  The  right 
12 


178    HOW  TO  TREAT  ORGANIC  LISEASES  OF  HEART. 

course  of  treatment  in  such  cases  can  be  illustrated 
and  enforced,  perhaps,  by  the  management  and  results 
of  two  cases. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  I  was  consulted  in  two 
cases  of  organic  diseases  of  the  heart  very  nearly  alike, 
and  very  clear  cases  of  incurable  disease.  Both  of 
about  the  same  age,  free  livers,  and  accustomed  to 
stimulating  food  and  some  stimulating  drinks,  but  of 
very  different  tempers ;  of  religious  character,  and 
power  of  self-control,  and  both  so  seriously  affected  as 
frequently,  when  excited  or  fatigued,  to  fall  into  an 
unconscious  state,  and  remain  in  it  for  hours.  They 
were  both  told  their  lives  were  in  their  own  hands, 
and  advised  to  abstain  from  carbonaceous  food,  stimu- 
lating drinks,  -condiments,  and  medicines ;  avoid  all 
excitements,  mental  and  physical,  and  never  allow 
themselves  to  run  or  get  fatigued,  even  if  their  houses 
should  burn  down  over  their  heads  —  in  that  case  just 
deliberately  walk  out  and  let  them  burn,  rather  than 
fio^ht  the  fire  themselves. 

Their  reception  of  the  advice  was  characteristic  of 
the  two  men,  and  the  resuLts  such  as  might  have  been 
expected.  One  said,  after  a  few  moments  of  silence, 
but  in  great  agitation,  ^' About  dying,  I  am  not  particu- 
lar ;  but  while  I  do  live  I  shall  have  my  brandy  and 
my  fat  beef  as  usual.  I  am  not  to  be  all  my  lifetime 
subject  to  bondage  for  fear  of  death."  —  In  less  than 
three  weeks  some  neighbors'  :iogs  got  into  his  garden, 
just  as  he  had  finished  his  dinner  of  fat  beef,  and  had 
taken  his  brandy  to  make  it  digest.    In  great  excite- 


HOW  TO  CURE  DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART.  179 

ment  he  ran  out  after  them,  and  fell  down  dead  in  the 
garden. 

The  other  gentleman  said,  "It  is  clearly  my  duty  to 
'keep  under  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection,' 
according  to  the  example  of  the  Apostle."  — He  is  now 
living,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  and  enjoying  com- 
fortable health,  having,  for  thirty  years,  lived  "a  quiet 
and  peaceable  life,  in  all  godliness  and  honesty,"  and 
having  been  exempt  from  those  fainting  fits  which  so 
distressed  and  alarmed  his  friends ;  indeed,  having  en- 
joyed vastly  more  in  eating  and  drinking  than  if  he  had 
put  no  restraints  on  his  appetites,  and  even  more  than 
if  he  had  only  put  on  them  such  restraints  as  are  cus- 
tomary in  the  class  of  virtuous  and  excellent  people  to 
which  he  belongs. 

If  palpitation,  shortness  of  breath  on  going  up  stairs, 
fainting  fits,  distress  about  the  heart,  any  or  all  are 
produced,  as  they  often  are  in  persons  predisposed  to 
obesity,  by  accumulation  of  fat  about  the  heart,  the 
remedy  is  simple  and  sure  :  for  if  the  material  of  which 
fat  is  made  be  not  supplied,  fat  will  not  only  not  be 
made,  but  if  made  will  be  absorbed.  Follow,  there- 
fore, the  directions  given  in  the  chapter  on  Corpulence. 

If  these  symptoms  are  produced  by  tight  lacing,  the 
remedy  is  equally  simple,  and  upon  the  same  principle 
—  stop  the  supply  of  strings,  and  belts,  and  corsets. 

If  they  are  produced  by  heating  food,  stimulating 
drinks  and  condiments,  of  course  these  are  also  to  be 
withdrawn,  and  the  cure  is  certain.  If  by  derange- 
ment of  the  nervous  system,  follow  the  directions  in 


180       HOW  TO  CURE  DISEASES  OF  THE  HEART. 

the  chapter  on  Apoplexy,  Neuralgia,  and  Nervoua 
Diseases. 

While,  therefore,  I  do  not  deny  that  there  are  cases 
of  enlargement  of  the  heart  and  arteries  that  must  prove 
fatal  in  spite  of  all  treatment,  yet,  in  most  cases,  by 
following  the  foregoing  suggestions,  1  have  not  a  doubt 
that  in  functional  cases  a  radical  cure  can  be  effected, 
and  in  organic,  a  great  modification  and  improvement 
of  the  symptoms. 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  181 


HOW  TO  CUEE  COEPULENCE. 

Adipose  substance,  or  fat,  is  deposited  under  the 
skin  for  three  purposes:  1.  To  protect  the  system 
from  cold,  or,  in  other  words,  to  retain  the  heat  of  the 
body,  fat  being  a  good  non-conductor  of  heat.  2.  To 
form  an  insensible  cushion  to  protect  the  internal  or- 
gans from  the  effects  of  concussions,  pressures,  &c. 
3.  To  fill  up  the  angles  and  interstices  formed  by  the 
attachments  of  muscles  to  the  prominences  of  bone, 
&c.,  so  as  to  leave  the  outlines  of  the  body  rounded 
and  beautiful.  Nature's  lines  of  beauty  being  always 
curved,  while  sharp  and  angular  lines  are  given  for 
utility. 

This  fat  is  composed  of  the  same  carbonaceous  ele- 
ments as  are  used  by  the  lungs  to  furnish  animal  heat, 
and,  if  not  otherwise  supplied,  as  in  case  of  sickness, 
when  fat  or  other  carbonaceous  food  cannot  be  di- 
gested, or  in  fasting,  they  are  supplied  by  absorbing 
this  adipose  covering,  and  this  we  call  losing  flesh,  or 
growing  poor. 

On  this  account  fat  men  bear  fasting  longer  than 
lean  men  ;  and  on  this  principle  hibernating  animals, 
as  the  raccoon,  badger,  and  the  brown  bear,  fat  up  in 
the  summer  on,  the  abundance  of  food  that  is  then  fur- 
nished them,  and  in  winter  crawl  into  their  dens  and 


182     HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

live  on  themselves,  coming  out  in  the  spring  poor  and 
haggard,  and  ready  for  a  new  supply.  And  here  we 
have  the  foundation  for  philosophical  cure  for  obesity. 

Butter,  the  fat  of  meats,  starch,  and  sugar  furnish 
animal  heat,  and  also  the  adipose  covering  which,  in 
excess,  constitutes  corpulence.    Some  of  these  princi- 
ples the  lungs  must  have  every  moment,  or  we  die  for 
want  of  animal  heat.    If,  therefore,  these  carbonaceous 
principles  are  not  supplied  in  food,  they  are  taken  from 
the  fatty  accumulations  under  the  skin  — the  deposits 
being  withdrawn  in  case  of  necessity,  just  as  a  banker 
uses°his  surplus  funds  when  he  gets  into  a  pinch.  This 
withdrawal  of  fatty  deposits  is  seen  every  day  in  fevers 
and  other  diseases,  when  food  cannot  be  digested,  and 
is  seen  also  in  fastings,  as  in  shipwrecked  marinefs,  &c. ; 
and  it  has  been  proved  in  such  cases  that  fat  men  live 
longer  than  lean  ones. 

By  experiments  on  prisoners  (see  Philosophy  of 
Eating,  page  98),  it  is  seen  that  fourteen  ounces  of 
carbonaceous  food  are  required,  in  a  moderate  tem- 
perature, at  rest,  to  keep  up  the  weight  of  the  body, 
and  by  the  rations  of  English  soldiers,  &c.,  it  is  also 
seen  that  in  active  service  from  twenty  to  twenty-two 
ounces  are  necessary.  If  less  than  these  amounts  are 
supplied,  the  balance  is  withdrawn  from  the  deposits 
under  the  skin,  as  has  been  proved  over  and  over  again 
by  experiment. 

The  five  hundred  prisoners,  in  five  different  jails  in 
Scotland,  above  referred  to,  had,  on  ao  average,  thir- 
teen ounces  each  day  for  two  months,  and  they  lost  in 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  183 

weight  six  ^hundred  and  fifty-three  pounds,  varying 
somewhat  in  different  prisons,  according  to  the  differ- 
ent nutritive  value  of  the  different  articles  used;  but 
in  like  circumstances  losing  in  just  the  proportion  as 
the  sugar,  starch,  or  fat  fell  below  the  requisite  amount. 
We  have,  then,  a  standard  by  which  to  judge  of  the 
*  requisite  amount  of  starch  or  sugar  necessary  to  keep  the 
deposit  of  fat  good.    We  must,  however,  bear  in  mind 
the  fact,  stated  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  123,  that 
butter  and  the  fat  of  all  meats  contain  two  and  one  half 
times  as  much  fattening  qualities,  in  a  given  weight, 
as  starch  or  sugar,  containing,  as  they  all.  do,  no  water, 
while  starch  and  sugar  contain  seventy-five  per  cent,  of 
water. 

If,  then,  a  man  of  average  weight,  say  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds,  wishes  to  retain  the  deposits  as  they 
now  are,  and  continue  that  weight,  in,  perhaps,  nine- 
teen cases  in  twenty  he  will  succeed,  and  remain,  year 
after  year,  by  eating  any  of  the  articles  in  the  foregoing 
table  in  such  proportions  as  to  get,  with  his  necessary 
nitrates,  from  fourteen  to  twenty-one  ounces  of  car- 
bonates, according  to  his  exercise,  in  moderate  weather 
—  in  hot  weather  less,  and  in  cold  weather  more. 

But  it  is  not  expected,  nor  is  it  desirable,  that  he 
should  weigh  out  his  food,  and  the  table  is  not  pre- 
pared for  that  purpose;  still  it  will  be  found  useful  to 
have  in  mind  the  relative  value  of  different  articles  of 
food  in  heating  and  nutritive  properties,  both  while 
furnishing  and  eating  his  dinners. 

If  he  lives  on  articles  of  food  as  Nature  has  furnished 


184     HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

• 

them,  his  appetite  will  direct  him  both  in  regard  to  the 
quantity  to  be  eaten,  and  the  articles  to  be  eaten  to- 
gether ;  but,  as  I  have  elsewhere  explained,  if  he  add 
to  these  articles  of  food  either  fine  flour,  which  is  mostly 
starch,  or  sugar,  he  will,  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
used,  increase  the  amount  of  heating  and  fattening  food 
without  increasing  the  strengthening;  and  if  he  add"- 
butter,  or  lard,  or  the  fat  of  meats,  he  adds,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  used,  two  and  one  half  times 
as  much  to  his  carbonates,  without  increasing  his 
nitrates. 

In  that  case  one  of  two  undesirable  consequences  will 
follow  —  he  will  increase  in  fatness,  if  predisposed  to 
obesity,  and  the  blood  will  become  heated  by  this  extra 
carbon  circulating  in  it  before  being  deposited,  and  also 
by  retaining  the  heat  in  the  system  as  a  non-conductor, 
or  the  extra  carbonaceous  material  will  be  cast  off  as 
unnatural  waste,  and  being  unnatural  will  ferment, 
causing  flatulence,  and  irritation,  and  the  colics,  and 
bowel  complaints,  which  are  the  natural  consequence. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  takes  food  containing  less 
than  from  fourteen  to  twenty-one  ounces  of  fat  and 
heat-producing  food,  he  will  draw  on  his  deposits  to 
an  amount  proportionate  to  the  deficiency,  and  to  the 
amount  of  exercise  which  he  takes.  Moreover,  inas- 
much as  corpulence,  or  extra  fatty  deposits,  comes 
generally  from  extra,  and  not  from  natural,  carbona- 
ceous food,  it  is  not  necessary,  except  where  the  con- 
stitutional tendency  to  obesity  is  very  strong,  to  reduce 
the  supply  of  natural  food  at  all,  as  the  cause  is  re- 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  185 

moved  by  cutting  off  the  extra  carbon,  and  the  extra 
fat  is  absorbed. 

And,  besides,  in  cases  where  the  tendency  to  corpu- 
lence is  not  constitutionally  strong,  it  is  often  only 
necessary  to  abstain  from  that  one  principle  of  car- 
bonaceous food  which  has  the  strongest  tendency  to 
produce  fat  —  doing  it,  not  by  the  process  of  digestion, 
but  by  a  mere  transfer  of  fat  from  one  animal  to 
another,  whereas  sugar  has  to  be  digested  to  be  con- 
verted into  fat,  and  starch  has  first  to  be  converted  into 
sugar  before  it  can  be  converted  into  fat. 

Of  this  very  simple  process  of  curing  obesity,  let  me 
give  an  illustration.  A  gentleman  of  ordinary  height, 
who  weighed  two  hundred  and  ten  pounds,  and  his 
wife,  rather  short  in  stature,  who  weighed,  I  think, 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,  under  my  direction 
tried  the  experiment  of  abstaining  from  butter,  and 
mostly  from  the  fat  of  all  meats,  except  as  they  were 
necessary  with  steak,  fish,  &c.,  which  were  deficient 
in  this  principle ;  but  eating  sugar  and  fine  flour  mod- 
erately, as  usual ;  never,  however,  using  butter  with 
white  bread  or  other  farinaceous  food,  but  eating  cheese 
instead. 

In  a  few  months  the  gentleman  had  withdrawn 
twenty-five  pounds  of  fatty  deposits,  and  the  lady 
about  fifteen.  And,  being  satisfied  with  their  improve- 
ment, they  have,  for  the  last  three  years,  remained  at 
the  same  weight,  by  simply  being  careful  not  to  eat 
an  excess  of  any  carbonaceous  food ;  eating,  however, 
butter  and  all  kinds  of  fat  within  the  limits  prescribed. 


18G    HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 


William  Banting,  the  Englishman,  is  also  an  exam- 
ple of  cure  of  obesity  by  abstaining  only  partially  from 
extra  carbonaceous  food.  He  reduced  himself,  accord- 
ing to  the  statement  in  his  pamphlet,  from  two  hundred 
and  two  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  pounds,  by  ^'  a'b- 
staining  as  much  as  possible  from  bread,  butter,  milk, 
sugar,  beer,  potatoes,  and  some  kinds  of  wines,  as 
port ;  and  living  on  beef,  mutton,  and  other  meats 
except  pork,  and  any  vegetables  except  potatoes,  with 
good  Madeira,  claret,  and  sherry  wines,  and  a  tumbler 
of  gin^  whiskey^  or  brandy  grog^  at  nighty  as  a  night- 
cap." 

But  neither  Banting  nor  his  medical  adviser  seems 
to  have  had  but  an  inkling  of  the  principle  upon  which 
the  change  was  effected,  the  one  seeming  to  think  it 
was  a  process  by  which  to  kill  a  disease  which  he 
absurdly  calls  a  "parasite,"  and  the  other  that  it  was 
produced  by  some  chemical  effect  on  the  secretions  of 
the  liver ;  but  neither  comprehended  the  simple  princi- 
ple on  which  the  whole  effect  was  produced. 

Nor  did  they  understand  what  principles  in  food 
should  be  avoided,  or  why  they  should  be  avoided. 
Accordingly  we  find  bread,  milk,  and  potatoes  con- 
demned, while  alcohol  and  fat  meat  are  allowed. 
Indeed,  the  cure  seem^  to  have  been  effected  by  a 
mere  blunder,  in  which  it  happened  that,  although 
the  alcohol  and  the  fat  in  beef  and  mutton  must  have 
retarded  the  process  of  absorption,  and,  of  course, 
delayed  the  cure,  still,  in  spite  of  this  error,  the  cure 
in  his  case  was  effected  by  abstaining  from  starch, 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE.  187 

sugar,  and  fat  in  other  food,  which  brought  the  amount 
used  daily  below  the  fourteen  to  twenty  ounces  required 
to  keep  up  the  deposits.  But  in  the  directions  given  in 
the  pamphlet  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  tumbler 
of  gin,  whiskey,  or  brandy  "nightcap"  was  not  as  im- 
portant in  the  cure  as  beefsteak  or  fish ;  and  hundreds 
who  never  drank  these  death-dealing  articles  before, 
are  now  taking,  by  the  recommendation  of  Banting, 
enough  every  night  to  give  them  a  regular  fuddle,  as 
p  a  part  of  the  necessary  process  of  curing  obesity.  And 
yet  everybody  knows  that  alcohol,  in  any  form,  tends 
to  produce  obesity  —  not,  however,  by  adding  to  the 
fat,  but  by  retarding  absorption. 

In  spite  of  these  absurd  and  conflicting  recommenda- 
tions, those  whose  tendency  to  corpulence  is  not  very 
strong,  have  succeeded  in  reducing  it  by  these  conflict- 
ing directions  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  those  whose 
•  predispositions  to  it  are  strong,  and  whose  appetites 
for  carbonaceous  food  are  also  strong,  fail  altogether, 
or,  if  they  partially  succeed,  finding  the  sacrifice  too 
great,  fall  back  to  their  old  habits,  and  take  on  again 
their  old  burdens  of  flesh. 

But  those  who  set  about  this  matter  scientifically, 
and,  instead  of  confining  themselves  exclusively  to 
"beef  and  other  meats  except  pork,  any  vegetables 
except  potatoes,  with  good  Madeira,  claret,  and  sherry 
wines,  and  a  tumbler  of  gin,  whiskey,  or  brandy  grog, 
as  a  nightcap,"  and  thus  being  obliged  to  be  more 
scrupulously  abstemious  in  some  things,  on  account 
of  the  counteracting  influence  of  the  others,  taking 


188    HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  CURE  CORPULENCE. 

from  the  whole  bill  of  fare  which  God  has  given  them, 
consisting  of  "every  living  that  moveth,"  and  every 
thing  that  grows,  that  is,  or  can  be  made,  agreeable 
to  the  palate  in  its  natural  state,  or  by  adding  such 
principles,  in  an  agreeable  form,  as  are  needed  to  sup- 
ply necessary  elements,  may  eat  what  they  please,  and 
all  they  desire,  and  still  reduce  their  surplus  fat,  if  they 
will  only  see  to  it  that  the  carbonaceous  matter  comes 
below  the  requisite  fourteen  to  twenty  ounces. 

Or  the  same  thing  can  be  accomplished  by  being 
careful  that  no  article  of  food  contains  more  than  its 
due  proportion  of  carbonaceous  food,  and  some  contain 
less ;  and  if  some  do  contain  more,  that  others  contain- 
ing less  be  used  at  the  same  time.  For  example : 
Suppose  the  meal  before  you  consisted  of  unbolted 
bread,  milk,  eggs,  beef  or  mutton,  of  average  fatness, 
cooked  in  its  own  gravy.  As  all  these  articles  contain 
just  their  natural  proportions  of  carbonaceous  nourish- 
ment, you  might  eat  as  much  of  either  or  all  as  the 
appetite  demanded,  without  increasing  your  deposits 
of  fat ;  and  if  the  beef  or  mutton  were  perfectly  lean, 
you  could  add  an  equivalent  for  the  fat  in  butter,  with 
out  varying  the  effect.  But  if,  instead  of  unbolted 
meal  bread,  your  bread  was  from  superfine  flour,  and 
instead  of  milk  you  had  butter,  thus  far  you  would 
get  nothing  but  carbonaceous  food ;  and  then  if  you 
add  to  your  eggs  butter,  and  to  your  beef  and  mutton 
gravy  from  fat  pork,  or  flour  and  butter,  you  have  be- 
fore you,  instead  of  food  containing  its  natural  propor- 
tions of  carbonates  and  nitrates,  probably  double  the 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  AND  LURE  CORPULENCE.  189 

necessary  amount  of  carbonates ;  and  in  eating  all  you 
want,  to  get  the  necessary  supply  of  muscle-making 
food,  you  have  eaten,  perhaps,  a  third  more  fat-making 
food  than  is  needed,  and  the  surplus  must  either  be 
added  to  your  adipose  deposits,  or  be  thrown  off  as 
waste. 

Now,  this  is  just  what  the  better  classes  in  England, 
and  all  classes  in  New  England,  are  doing  every  day ; 
and  therefore  all  who  are  predisposed  to  obesity,  and 
have  not  exercise  enough  to  work  it  off,  are  constantly 
waxing  fat,  while  the  lean  ones  are  suffering  from  the 
effects  of  this  heating  food  in  some  other  way. 

These  facts  and  these  principles  cannot  be  disproved, 
and  it  follows  that,  with  but  little  sacrifice,  most  people, 
even  if  inclined  to  corpulence,  can  regulate  their  weight 
as  they  please.  Indeed  therQ  is  not  only  no  sacrifice 
even  of  the  pleasures  of  eating,  but  a  positive  addition 
to  gustatory  pleasures,  in  confining  ourselves  to  such 
articles  of  food  as  are  best  adapted  to  our  condition. 
And  this  is  the  testimony  of  every  man  who  has  had 
perseverance  enough  to  overcome  the  first  cravings  of 
a  perverted  appetite.  After  the  first  short  struggle 
with  it,  unless  the  struggle  is  prolonged  by  an  occa- 
sional indulgence,  which,  of  course,  prolongs  the 
struggle,  the  appetite  and  taste  soon  conform  to  their 
primitive  condition  of  craving  and  relishing  best  just 
the  food  that  is  best  for  us,  and  we  return  to  our  sim- 
ple, child-like  love  for  natural  food,  cooked  without 
abstracting  any  of  its  essential  elements,  or  adding 
anything  injurious. 


190 


LEANNESS. 


LEANNESS :  ITS  CAUSE  AND  ITS  CURE. 

All  animals  but  man  are  fat  or  lean  as  they  are  fed 
on  carbonaceous  food  and  are  kept  still,  or  on  nitroge- 
nous food  and  are  permitted  to  run  at  large.  The 
farmer  lets  his  oxen  run  at  large,  or  works  them,  till 
the  muscles  are  developed,  and  they  are  grown  to  a 
sufficient  size  to  be  profitable  for  beef,  and  then  shuts 
them  up,  and  feeds  them  freely  on  Indian  corn  meal, 
and  they  immediately  begin  to  fiitten  up  for  beef,  and 
within  certain  limits  the  fat  accumulates  in  proportion 
to  the  meal  they  can  be  induced  to  eat. 

In  some  places,  also,  hogs  are  permitted  to  range  in 
woods  and  fields  for  acorns  and  grass  till  they  are 
sufficiently  grown,  and  then  are  brought  in,  as  poor  as 
hounds,  to  be  fatted  up  for  the  market ;  and  a  calcula- 
tion can  be  made  with  accuracy  as  to  how  many  pounds 
they  are  gaining  each  week,  by  noticing  how  much  corn 
meal  is  consumed ;  and  two  pigs  of  the  same  family 
will  generally  keep  of  about  the  same  weight  if  treated 
in  the  same  way. 

But  let  a  family  of  men  live  on  the  same  food,  and 
have  the  same  amount  of  exercise  and  the  same  general 
habits,  and  some  members  will  be  lean  as  wolves,  and 
others  as  fat  as  pigs. 


LEANNESS. 


191 


The  same  elements  are  found  to  compose  the  flesh  of 
the  pig  as  compose  the  flesh  of  man,  and  the  same  gen- 
eral arrangements  are  found  for  digestion  and  assimila- 
tion, and  generally,  especially  in  their  fully  domesticated 
state,  the  same  kinds  of  food  are  given  to  them  as  to 
men.  Pigs,  however,  get  the  skimmed  milk  and  bran, 
which  strengthen  the  powers  of  digestion,  while  men 
get  the  butter  and  fine  flour,  which  weaken  the  powers 
of  digestion ;  and  this  fact  gives  us  the  means  of  ex- 
plaining the  otherwise  enigmatical  question,  — 

Why  is  it  that  a  pig,  with  digestive  organs  and  appe- 
tites, if  not  habits  and  dispositions,  like  his  master, 
should  always,  with  good  food,  be  ^^fat  and  flourish- 
ing," while  his  master,  with  better,  or  at  least  more 
carbonaceous  food,  may  be  as  "ill-favored  and  lean- 
fleshed  "  as  Pharaoh's  kine  ?  Let  us  see  if  this  enigma 
can  be  explained. 

We  are  fattened,  as  we  are  strengthened,  not  neces- 
sarily by  what  we  eat,  but  by  what  we  digest;  and 
constantly  overburdened  as  the  human  stomach  is  (in 
this  country  among  all  classes,  and  in  the  cities  of 
Europe  among  the  better  classes)  with  an  excess  of 
carbonaceous  food,  such  as  butter,  sugar,  lard,  starch, 
&c.,  which  is  never  all  digested,  after  a  while  it  seems 
to  get  discouraged  and  to  cease  to  try  to  digest  it. 

In  such  cases,  those  who  are  predisposed  to  obesity 
become  fat,  but  weak,  languid,  and  stupid,  —  the  carbo- 
naceous-food being  better  digested  than  the  nitrogenous 
or  phosphatic ;  while  those  who  are  predisposed  to  lean- 
ness may  have  muscular  or  mental  strength,  —  the 


192 


CURE  OF  LEANNESS. 


nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  in  them  being  digested,  but 
not  the  carbonaceous,  —  but  become  lean  and  haggard, 
and  the  redundant  carbonaceous  food,  except  that  which 
suppUes  animal  heat,  is  all  wasted,  and  that,  in  such 
persons,  is  generally  deficient. 

But  pigs,  not  having  predispositions,  except  to  obesi- 
ty, and  not  often  having  their  digestive  powers  weak- 
ened or  embarrassed  by  extra  carbonaceous  food,  digest 
and  give  credit  for  all  they  eat.  I  have  been  told, 
however,  that  pigs  may  be  cloyed  by  overfeeding,  so 
as  to  lose  flesh  while  more  corn  meal  is  before  them 
than  they  can  eat,  and  that,  by  continued  overfeeding, 
they  will  continue  to  grow  lean.  In  such  cases,  in 
order  to  fatten  them,  the  food  must  first  be  withheld 
until  they  become  hungry,  and  then,  by  feeding  at  first 
sparingly,  and  keeping  the  supply  below  the  demand, 
their  digestive  powers  will  gradually  recover,  and  they 
will  fatten  like  other  pigs. 

Here,  then,  we  have  an  illustration  of  my  position  as 
to  the  cause  of  leanness,  and  at  the  same  time  a  hint  as 
to  the  cure  of  it.  The  cause  of  leanness,  in  this  coun- 
try at  least,  is  never  the  want  of  carbonaceous  food, 
but  from  overloading  the  stomach  with  it,  as  before 
described.  What,  then,  can  be  more  rational  than  to 
take  a  hint  from  the  farmer  with  his  pigs,  and  keep  the 
stomach  supplied  with  good  strengthening  and  fattening 
food  only  just  as  it  is  really  wanted  and  will  be  digested, 
never  eating  without  an  appetite,*  and  never  eating  any- 
thing but  good  food,  so  cooked  and  served  as  to  be  eaten 
with  a  good  relish  ? 


HOW  TO  SECUBE  A  GOOD  APPETITE.  193 


In  this  way,  I  venture  to  assert,  that  any  man,  how- 
ever predisposed  to  leanness,  may  give  his  bones  an 
adipose  covering  to  any  desirable  extent.  But  what 
course  will  secure  perpetually  a  good  appetite,  a  good 
relish  for  food,  and  good  digestion  ? 

How  to  secure  a  good  Appetite. 

A.  good  appetite  cannot  he  permanently  secured 
without  regularity  in  times  of  eating. 

The  stomach  cannot,  like  the  heart  and  lungs,  work 
continually,  but  is  intended  to  have  its  time  for  labor 
and  its  time  for  rest.  It  is,  however,  very  accommo- 
dating, and  will  furnish  the  requisite  juices,  and  per- 
form the  requisite  labor  of  digesting  food,  once,  twice, 
and  even  four  or  five  times  a  day,  if  its  task  is  given  it 
at  regular  hours ;  but  it  must  have  rest :  and  to  insure 
vigorous  digestion,  that  rest  must  be  as  long  and  con- 
tinuous as  the  regular  hours  of  sleep.  The  frequency 
and  time  of  meals  for  laboring  men,  —  if  they  can  have 
good  nourishing  food,  and  that  which  is  not  too  easily 
digested,  —  are  probably  three  times  in  twenty-four 
hours,  say  at  six  in  the  morning,  twelve  at  noon,  and 
six  at  night,  the  morning  and  noon  meals  containing 
the  principal  elements  for  muscular  power,  while  the 
evening  meal  is  such  as  will  not,  in  the  exhausted  state 
of  the  system,  require  much  digestive  labor.  And  for 
sedentary  men  two  meals  are  sufficient — ^*one  in  the 
morning  and  one  in  the  afternoon,  at  some  regular 
hour.  With  this  arrangement  a  good  appetite  will  be 
13 


194 


REGULAR  HOURS  NECESSARY. 


secured  at  every  meal,  especially  if  we  scrupulously 
avoid  taking  food  between  meals,  or  within  three  hours 
of  the  regular  time  for  sleep.  Digestion  will  go  on 
while  we  sleep,  unless  the  powers  of  the  system  are 
greatly  exhausted  by  the  labors  of  the  day ;  but  sleep 
is  never  quiet  and  refreshing  while  the  stomach  is 
oppressed  with  food,  and  digestion  is  never  well  done 
while  the  system  is  exhausted,  as  we  have  all  had  occa- 
sion to  notice. 

'  And  here,  perhaps,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  I  may  ex- 
plain the  reason  for  these  suggestions.  Sleep  —  "tired 
Nature's  sweet  restorer "  —  imparts  to  the  system  all 
the  nervous  or  vital  energy  which  is  necessary  for  the 
duties  of  the  day,  and  to  keep  all  our  functions  in 
healthy,  harmonious  action,  and  secure  a  good  appetite 
for  food.  This  vital  energy  must  be  expanded  during 
waking  hours,  partly  in  mental,  partly  in  muscular, 
and  partly  in  digestive  exercise.  We  may  so  expend 
it  all  in  intense  and  continuous  mental  effort  as  to  have 
none  left  for  muscular  or  digestive  powers,  as  we  have 
seen  in  cases  where  lawyers  or  legislators  have  given 
their  whole  powers  of  mind  to  an  important  case  till 
Nature  became  exhausted,  and  they  could  neither  walk 
nor  digest  food  till  partially  restored  by  sleep.  Or  we 
may  so  expend  the  vital  energy  in  muscular  exertion  as 
to  exhaust  the  whole  vital  force,  and  not  be  able  to 
think  or  to  digest  food  till  the  vital  energy  is  restored 
by  sleep.  Pf  this  we  have  seen  examples  in  men  at  a 
fire,  or  in  a  flood,  or  some  other  similar  emergency, 
who  would  fall  dov/n  in  utter  exhaustion;  and  to  pre- 


HOW  TO  HAVE  AN  APPETITE. 


195 


vent  taxing  the  digestive  powers  in  such  a  state.  Nature 
provides  that  all  food  should  be  thrown  from  the 
stomach,  and  none  afterwards  received  till  sleep  should 
restore  the  exhausted  powers.  Or  w^  may  so  engorge 
the  stomach  as  to  expend  all  our  vital  powers  on  diges- 
tion, and  become  incapable  of  mental  and  physical  exer- 
cise, and  even  to  destroy  the  powers  of  life.  Of  this 
we  have  seen  frequent  examples.  Two  miserable  men 
made  a  wager  on  eating  eggs.  The  man  who  should 
eat  the  greatest  number  in  twelve  hours  should  be  sup- 
plied with  grog  for  a  week.  Before  the  end  of  twelve 
hours  both  fell  into  a  stertorous  sleep,  from  which  one 
never  recovered,  and  the  other  not  for  some  days. 

From  these  principles  and  facts  we  get  some  valuable 
hints  in  regard  to  mental,  physical,  and  digestive  man- 
agement, and  may  infer  that  if  we  desire  a  good  appe- 
tite in  the  morning,  when,  having  most  vital  power,  a 
good  appetite  is  most  valuable,  we  must  not  eat  a  hearty 
meal  at  night,  when  the  system  is  exhausted,  but  must 
always  give  the  stomach  its  regular  tasks  and  its  time 
to  rest;  and  this  is  found  to  be  true  in, other  animals 
whose  digestive  apparatus  is  like  that  of  men. 

The  horse  is  kept  in  good  condition  only  by  being  fed 
at  regular  times,  and  pigs  also  thrive  much  better  if 
food  is  withheld  except  at  regular  hours. 

To  secure  a  good  appetite  we  must  eat  good  food. 

Food,  to  be  perfectly  digested,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
seen,  must  be  taken  only  in  such  quantities  as  the 
system  demands,  and  if  we  take  only  natural  food,  in 
which  is  the  appropriate  mixture  of  necessary  elements, 


196  HOW  TO  HAVE  SWEET  BREATH. 

the  appetite  can  always  be  trusted  to  interpret  the  de- 
mands of  the  system,  and  in  that  case  we  should  never 
eat  too  much.  But  eating,  as  we  do,  flour,  butter,  and 
sugar,  which  have  but  a  part  of  the  elements  required, 
these  articles  can  only  be  digested  as  they  are  eaten 
with  food  deficient  in  the  elements  which  they  contain, 
and  these  are  very  few.  Consequently  these  redundant 
articles,  in  just  about  the  proportions  in  which  they  are 
eaten,  remain  undigested  in  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
causing  flatulence  and  derangement  of  the  secretions 
of  the  stomach,  mouth,  and  all  the  digestive  organs, 
and  the  sordes  of  the  teeth,  bad  taste  in  the  mouth, 
foulness  of  breath,  and  fastidious  appetite,  &c.,  which 
they  always  have  who  live  on  these  concentrated  car- 
bonaceous articles. 

I  have  often  wished  —  but  of  course  never  dared  to 
suo-o-est  the  idea  —  that  our  fastidious,  confectionery 
and  cake-eating  young  ladies,  who  have  no  appetite 
except  for  unnatural  carbonaceous  food,  and  whose 
breath  in  consequence  is  so  offensive  to  themselves  as 
to  require  constantly  some  aromatic  seeds  or  some 
patent  trix,  and  whose  mouth  is  so  filled  with  oflPensive 
saliva,  and  whose  teeth  so  covered  with  sordes,  that 
charcoal  and  a  tooth-brush  used  every  day  will  not 
keep  them  clean,  might  look  into  the  mouth  of  a  cow, 
a  dog,  or  even  a  pig,  neither  of  which  use  charcoal, 
tooth-brush,  or  trix,  and  see  how  clean  the  mouth  and 
teeth  are,  and  how  pure  the  secretions,  and —  ("angels 
and  ministers  of  grace  defend  us  !  ")  —  how  sweet  their 
breath  is  1  —  comparatively.    Now  why  is  not  the  breath 


HOW  TO  HAVE  SWEET  BREATH.  197 


of  a  young  lady  as  sweet  as  that  of  a  little  child, 

who  needs  no  more  charcoal,  trix,  or  tooth-brush  than 
a  pig?  and  why  is  not  her  appetite  always  as  good,  and 
her  teeth  as  clean  ?  No  reason  can  be  given  but  that 
to  which  I  have  referred.  Little  children,  cows,  dogs, 
and  . pigs  digest  all  their  food,  and  the  waste  passes  off, 
leaving  the  system  pure.  The  food  of  the  young  lady 
who  eats  cakes,  pastry,  starch,  and  butter,  remains 
undigested,  to  derange  all  the  digestive  functions  and 
secretions  in  just  the  proportion  as  these  carbonaceous 
articles  take  the  place  of  natural  food. 

That  this  Is  not  a  mere  theory,  can  be  proved  by  look- 
ing into  the  mouth  of  any  young  lady  who  carefully 
avoids  all  extra  carbonaceous  food;  and  such  young 
ladies  are  now  frequently  met,  and  I  thank  God  for  the 
belief  that  the  number  is  rapidly  increasing.  Such 
ladies  need  no  charcoal  or  trix  to  neutralize  or  disguise 
the  impurity  of  secretions,  or  to  correct  an  offensive 
breath,  and  no  brush  to  keep  the  teeth  clean ;  and  if, 
in  other  respects,  their  habits  are  good  and  regular, 
they  always  have  a  good  appetite  at  meal  time. 

How  to  secure  good  Relish  for  Food. 

The  importance  of  eating  food  with  a  good  relish  we 
have  elsewhere  explained  (see  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
pages  213-218,  also  the  chapter  on  Dyspepsia)  ;  and 
we  have  also  shown  what  considerations  are  necessary 
in  regard  to  cooking,  condiments,  &c. 

What  we  now  want  to  know  is,  what  course  will  best 


198  HOW  TO  RELISH  FOOD. 

secure  such  a  relish  for  every  meal  of  food  as  to  induce 
digestion  sufficient  to  supply  the  wastes  of  the  system, 
and  have  a  surplus  for  filling  up  the  sharp  angles,  and 
for  covering  up  the  bones  and  muscles  with  a  warm  and 
comely  coat,  and  to  secure  this  influence  permanently, 
according  to  the  evident  intention  of  Nature  ?    Eor  a 
sino'le  meal,  that  which  combines  a  good  supply  of 
carbonaceous  elements  with  nitrogenous  and  phosphat- 
ic,  in  such  a  manner  and  with  such  accompaniments 
as  to  secure  the  highest  possible  gustatory  enjoyments, 
would  be  most  fattening ;  but  extraordinary  gustatory 
enjoyments  can  no  more  be  permanent  than  other  ex- 
traordinary pleasures,  and  the  reaction  and  subsequent 
disrelish  for  common  and  natural  enjoyments  are  pro- 
portionate to  the  excess.    And  to  attempt  to  keep  up 
the  relish  for  food  by  keeping  up  a  supply  of  everything 
especially  agreeable,  would  prove  an  utter  failure ;  for 
they  enjoy  the  least  who  try  the  hardest  to  tempt  the 
appetite  with  the  greatest  variety  of  good  things.  Soon 
becoming  cloyed  with  everything  rich  and  savory,  while 
nothing  else  can  be  relished,  the  choicest  viands,  how- 
ever nicely  prepared,  become  loathsome  and  even  dis- 
gusting. 

But  the  appetite  never  cloys  with  food  as  Nature 
furnishes  it,  if  so  prepared  as  best  to  develop  the  relish 
which  naturally  belongs  to  it,  especially  if  we  cook  but 
a  small  variety  for  the  same  meal,  so  that  some  variety 
can  be  had  continually  ;  but  if  we  cook  together  to-day 
all  the  variety  of  meats  and  vegetables  in  common  use, 
and  mingle  their  flavor  together,  as  is  done  in  restaurants 


SLOW  EATING  IMPORTANT. 


199 


and  hotels,  although  we  may  have  for  once  an  agreeable 
combination  of  flavors,  yet  having,  as  we  must  have, 
the  same  combination  to-morrow,  the  next  day,  and 
continually,  it  soon  becomes  tiresome. 

To  secure  good  digestion  and  a  good  adipose  cover- 
ing, two  things  more  are  needed,  —  one  is  to  eat  slowly, 
and  the  other  is  included  in  that  beautiful  description  of 
a  good  and  happy  people,  they  "  did  eat  their  meat  with 
gladness  and  singleness  of  heart." 

Good  Digestion  depends  on  eating  deliberately. 

No  one  habit  in  this  country  contributes  so  largely  to 
dyspepsia  and  leanness  as  that  of  bolting  food.  Proba- 
bly the  average  length  of  time  devoted  to  the  principal 
meals  is  not  over  fifteen  minutes  among  business  men, 
mechanics,  and  laborers.  That  such  a  habit  must  be 
productive  of  indigestion,  and  consequent  leanness,  will 
be  made  apparent  by  considering  the  object  accom- 
^  plished  by  masticating  food.  One  great  object  is  to 
keep  in  the  mouth,  in  contact  with  the  nerves  of  taste, 
the  savory  morsel  till  its  flavor  has  aroused  the  secre- 
tions of  the  juices,  which  are  the  principal  agents  in  the 
process  of  digestion,  and  gathered  them  not  only  in  the 
mouth,  but  also  in  the  stomach.  That  the  presence  in 
the  mouth,  and  even  the  sight  and  smell  of  food  which 
we  relish,  does  arouse  these  secretions,  we  cannot  have 
failed  to  notice. 

Another  object  in  masticating  food  is  so  to  commi- 
nute it,  that  when  received  into  the  stomach  the  gastric 


200 


IMFGRTANCE  OF  SLOW  EATING. 


juice  will  be  admitted  at  once  to  every  particle,  and  the 
process  of  digestion  be  commenced  at  once  in  every 
part  of  the  morsel.  But  how  different  from  this  natu- 
ral condition  is  the  food  in  the  stomach  of  the  man  who 
bolts  his  food  in  morsels  as  large  as  can  be  made  to  pass 
down,  and,  in  the  time  necessary  to  prepare  a  single 
ounce  for  easy  digestion,  has  filled  his  capacious  maw 
with  these  enormous  masses  of  indigestible  food!  I 
have  seen  masses  of  beef  thrown  from  the  stomach 
after  remaining  there  undigested  three  or  four  days, 
or  even  a  week. 

Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  we  find  among  our  mer- 
chants and  business  men,  who  never  can  spare  but 
fifteen  minutes  for  their  meals,  so  many  cadaverous, 
desiccated,  "ill-favored  and  lean-fleshed"  specimens  of 
humanity?  The  wonder  is,  that,  not  conforming  to  the 
conditions  on  which  good  healthy  juices  are  secreted, 
and  not  comminuting  the  food,  so  that  those  that  are 
formed  can  come  in  contact  with  the  massive  morsels, 
except  on  their  surface,  enough  can  be  digested  to  keep 
them  alive. 


Good  Digestion  is  promoted  by  Cheerfulness, 

Nothing  is  better  understood  than  that  there  is  a 
connection  between  cheerfulness  and  good  digestion; 
and  the  trite  expression,  "to  laugh  and  grow  fat,"  un- 
doubtedly had  its  origin  in  observation,  if  not  in  philos- 
ophy. What  an  astonishing  amount  and  variety  of 
food  can  be  disposed  of,  and  perfectly  digested,  at  one 


CHEERFULNESS  PROMOTES  DIGESTION.  201 


sitting  of  two  or  three  hours,  by  a  company  of  cheerful 
and  happy,  not  to  say  jolly  and  merry,  old  friends,  and 
that  without  alcohol,  or  any  other  unnatural  stimulus,  to 
help  digestion  !  I  venture  to  say  more  than  three  times 
as  much  as  the  same  individuals  could  eat  and  digest  in 
the  same  time  if  each  took  his  meals  by  himself. 

And  this  one  fact  is  worth  more  than  all  else  I  can 
write  to  show  the  dependence  of  the  digestive  powers 
on  the  state  of  the  mind,  and  to  prove  that  he  must  be 
lean  and  haggard  who,  keeping  his  mind  constantly  on 
his  business,  bolts  his  meals  in  silence  and  solitude, 
even  in  the  presence  of  his  family.  I  commend  it  to 
the  careful  consideration  of  uncomfortable  mortals  who 
never  properly  digest  their  food,  and  whose  bones  are 
too  poorly  clothed  with  flesh,  and  too  poorly  protected 
ever  to  allow  them  quiet  rest,  and  who,  therefore,  envy 
'^fat,  sleek-headed  men,  and  such  as  sleep  o'  nights." 

From  these  considerations  I  venture  to  affirm,  that 
any  man  not  absolutely  sick,  who  so  trusts  in  Provi- 
dence as  to  be  able  to  obey  the  spirit  of  the  injunction, 
Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow ; "  who  keeps  from 
his  stomach,  except  as  they  are  needed  for  animal  heat, 
such  heating  food  as  butter,  starch,  and  sugar,  and 
who,  therefore,  digests  all  he  eats ;  who  eats  at  such 
regular  and  appropriate  times  as  to  secure  rest  for  the 
stomach  and  a  good  appetite ;  who  never  taxes  the 
stomach  with  food  when  tired  and  exhausted ;  who  eats 
nothing  that  cannot  be  relished,  and  nothing  the  relish 
of  which  is  not  natural,  or  allows  anything  to  enter  the' 
stomach  that  is  not  needed  as  food  or  drink ;  who  takef 


202  WELL  MEN  MAY  BE  FLESHY. 

his  food  SO  deliberately  as  to  have  it  properly  masti- 
cated and  lubricated,  and  who  eats  his  "meat  with 
gladness  and  singleness  of  heart,"  will  be  exempt  from 
dyspepsia,  and  his  bones  will  be  covered  with  a  com- 
fortable and  comely  coating  of  flesh. 


USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  MEDICINE. 


203 


MEDICINES:  THEIR  USES  AND  ABUSES. 

Medicines  are  undoubtedly  a  gift  from  God,  in- 
tended to  relieve  suffering,  and  assist  Nature  in  the 
cure  of  disease.  This  is  a  fair  inference,  from  the 
fact  that  some  medicines  certainly  do,  under  some  cir- 
cumstances, relieve  pain,  and  do  assist  Nature  in  the 
cure  of  disease  ;  and  whatever  good  in  Nature  anything 
can  do  for  man  it  was  undoubtedly  intended  to  do,  the 
world  being  understood  to  be  made  for  man,  and  every- 
thing in  it  intended  to  subserve  his  interests.  But  it  is 
universally  admitted  that  medicines,  as  they  have  been 
and  still  are  generally  used,  do  also  much  harm ;  indeed, 
it  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  physicians  that 


Medicines  have  always  done  mucli  more  Harm  than 
Good. 

Sir  Astley  Cooper,  the  most  celebrated  English  prac- 
titioner of  the  last  generation,  has  left  on  record  his 
opinion,  that,  on  the  whole,  more  harm  than  good  is 
done  by  medication. 

Dr.  Worthington  Hooker,  of  New  Haven,  in  his 
prize  essay,  published  in  1857,  says  he  believes  that 
the  peculiar  form  of  typhus  fever  which  prevailed  some 
years  ago  in  New  England,  and  which,  being  treated 


204  EVILS  OF  MEDICINE. 

with  stimulants,  was  very  fatal,  "was  often,  in  fact,  a. 
brandy  and  opium  disease." 

Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes,  in  his  address  of  May  30, 
1860,  makes  this  admission  to  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society :  "  Throw  out  opium,  throw  out  a 
few  specifics  which  our  art  did  not  discover,  throw 
out  wine,  and  the  vapors  which  produce  the  miracle 
of  anaesthesia,  and  I  firmly  believe  that  if  the  whole 
materia  medica^  as  now  used,  could  be  sunk  to  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  it  would  be  all  the  better  for  man- 
kind, and  all  the  worse  for  the  fishes." 

Now,  no  one  who  believes  the  Bible  will  aflirm  that 
these  are  the  legitimate  effects  of  medicine,  for  the 
record  is  that  "  God  saw  everything  that  he  had  made, 
and  behold  it  was  very  good."  If  this  be  a  true  record, 
there  must  be  something  wrong  in  the  dogma  of  what 
is  called  "rational  medicine,"  which  is  so  often  quoted 
by  the  leading  men  of  that  school,  and  so  ludicrously 
referred  to  in  the  foregoing  quotation  from  Dr.  Holmes. 

"  Drugs,  in  themselves  considered,  may  always  be  re- 
garded  as  Evils,"  a  false  idea. 

This  idea  is  not  consistent  with  their  own  belief  in  * 
reo-ard  to  the  eflTects  of  some  medicines,  for  four  or 
five  drugs  are  known  to  rational  practitioners  under 
the  name  of  alteratives,  or  specifics,  "to  produce  a 
secret  change  in  the  system  favorable  to  recovery  from 
disease,"  and  this  in  doses  so  small  as  to  be  tasteless, 
and  to  produce  no  perceptible  evils.;  and  hundreds  are 


RATIONAL  MEDICINE  AND  HOMCEOPATHIC  DOSES.  205 

equally  well  known,  to  new  school  practitioners,  to 
produce  similar  effects.  And  is  it  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  other  drugs  are  intended  by  Nature  to  effect 
a  cure  only  by  producing  such  serious  evils  as  to  make 
it  a  question  whether  the  effects  of  the  medicine  or  the 
effects  of  the  disease  are  most  to  be  feared  ?  Is  it  not 
more  "rational"  to  suppose  that  drugs,  like  every  other 
blessing  from  God,  are  intended  for  good,  and  for  good 
only,  and  that  the  wrong  application  of  them  produces 
the  evils  which  are  known  to  result  from  them  ?  For 
illustration  :  in  testing  my  old  school  drugs  in  my  new 
school  practice,  —  and  this  is  the  best  use  to  which  I 
can  apply  my  knowledge  of  crude  drugs,  — I  find  con- 
stant corroborations  of  this  belief. 

In  using  rhubarb,  or  calomel,  for  example,  as  T  often 
did  in  operative  doses,  for  the  cure  of  diarrhoea,  the 
patient  was  reduced  and  his  digestive  functions  were 
deranged,  but  the  disease  was  cured ;  and,  until  I 
learned  the  truth,  I  was  reconciled  to  the  evils  on 
account  of  the  benefits  of  the  medicine.  But  I  now 
find  rhubarb  or  calomel  much  more  useful  in  the  same 
disease,  in  doses  too  small  to  reduce  the  patient  or  de- 
range his  digestive  functions ;  and  the  inference,  to  my 
mind,  is  fair,  that  in  large  doses  the  cure  was  effected 
in  spite  of  the  active  operation,  and  not  on  account  of 
it.  I  have  tested  many  medicines  in  the  same  way, 
with  this  uniform  result :  where  large  doses  of  medicine 
will  cure  a  disease,  with  accompanying  evils,  small 
doses  will  accomplish  the  same  end  without  such 
evils. 


m 


206       HIPPOCRATES  AND  RATIONAL  MEDICINE. 

And  yet,  so  universal  is  the  opinion  that  medicine 
can  do  no  good  except  in  a  form  in  which  it  is  capable 
of  doing  harm,  that  we  meet  this  argument  against 
diluted  medicine  everywhere.  "  I  knew  of  a  child  that 
swallowed  a  whole  bottleful,  and  it  did  him  no  harm," 
and  this  is  supposed  to  settle  all  controversy  on  this 
subject. 

Surely  such  doctrines  as  these  came  neither  from  the 
"book  of  Nature,"  nor  from  the  "book  of  Grace,"  for 
in  these  nothing  can  be  found  to  correspond  with  this 
idea  of  doing  "  evil  that  good  may  come."  They  came 
from  an  age  when  the  light  of  Nature  had  shone  but 
very  dimly,  and  when  the  light  of  the  gospel  had  not 
yet  dawned  upon  the  world. 

Hippocrates,  the  acknowledged  father  of  "rational 
practice,"  who  wrote  thrfie  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  expressed  so  very  exactly  the  sentiments 
of  Professor  Holmes,  in  his  "  Currents  and  Counter 
Currents  in  Medical  Science,"  from  which  the  foregoing 
quotation  was  taken,  as  to  form,  at  least,  a  wonderful 
coincidence,  the  only  discoverable  difference  being  this  : 
Hippocrates,  "lest  Nature  might  be  disturbed  in  her 
wholesome  operation  on  the  matter  of  disease,"  never, 
in  any  case,  gave  medicine  till  after  the  most  active 
symptoms  had  subsided,  while  the  professor  does  make 
an  exception  in  favor  of  three  or  four  diseases  which 
the  specifics  are  adapted  to  cure.    The  improvement  in 
rational  practice  in  two  thousand  years  amounts,  then, 
to  simply  this  :  A  specific  has  been  discovered  for  the 
itch,  for  syphUis,  and  for  intermittent  fever,  and  possi- 


4» 


RATIONAL  MEDICINE  IRRATIONAL. 


207 


bly  for  some  two  or  three  other  diseases  —  but  they  are 
not  named  by  the  professor.  Except  the  medicines 
adapted  to  cure  these  interesting  diseases,  so  wonder- 
fully favored  by  Nature,  the  professor  firmly  believes 
"  that  if  the  whole  materia  medica^  as  now  used,  could 
be  sunk  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  it  would  be  all  the 
better  for  mankind,  and  all  the  worse  for  the  fishes." 
He  does  offer  to  "throw  out"  wine  and  opium,  which 
Hippocrates  undoubtedly  used,  and  the  anaesthetic 
vapors,  which,  though  not  understood  to  cure  disease, 
are  undoubtedly  a  great  blessing  to  mankind. 

This,  then,  is  the  condition  of  rational  medicine  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  There  are  known 
to  be  thousands  of  varieties  of  diseases,  and  thousands 
of  varieties  of  medicines ;  and  a  few  of  these  diseases 
have  medicines  adapted  to  their  cure ;  but  all  the  rest 
of  the  diseases  are  to  be  trusted  to  Nature  for  cure, 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  medicines  are  to  be  thrown  into 
the  sea,  as  worse  than  useless.  But  have  we  not  here 
a  marvellous  exception  to  the  uniformity  of  Nature's 
laws  ? 

We  never  find  an  eye  where  there  is  not  light  to  act 
upon  it.  And  so  uniform  is  this  law  that  fishes  in  the 
Mammoth  Cave  are  made  without  eyes.  We  never 
find  an  ear  but  where  sound  can  put  it  in  action ;  we 
never  find  a  living  thing,  down  to  the  invisible  animal- 
cule, that  has  not  its  appropriate  nourishment  at  hand. 
And  is  it  not  strange  that  only  a  few  of  the  thousands 
of  diseases  should  have  their  appropriate  remedies? 
Shall  we  call  that  "rational  medicine"  which  teaches 


208  DOCTORS  DIFFER. 


that  sulphfir  will  cure  the  itch,  but  denies  that  lime 
will  cure  a  rash ;  believes  that  mercury  will  cure 
syphilis,  but  laughs  at  the  idea  of  zinc  as  a  remedy 
for  herpes ;  knows  that  Peruvian  bark  will  cure  inter- 
mittent fever,  but  rejects  the  most  positive  testimony 
that  belladonna  will  cure  scarlet  fever? 

What  can  be  the  explanation  of  these  inconsistencies  ? 
The  professor  furnishes  a  good  answer  —  It  is  so  hard 
to  get  anything  out  of  the  dead  hand  of  medical  tra- 
dition." 

Again  :  should  that  be  called  rational  medicine  of 
which  its  own  chosen  professor  says,  "The  truth  is, 
that  medicine,  professedly  founded  on  observation,  ia 
as  sensitive  to  outside  influences,  political,  religious, 
philosophical,  imaginative,  as  is  the  barometer  to  the 
changes  of  atmospheric  density  "  ?  And  this  he  proves 
by  eight  or  ten  pages  of  historic  facts,  showing  the 
innumerable  opinions  and  theories  which  have  been 
set  up,  to  be  kicked  over  by  the  next  man  who  should 
come  along;  —  Dr.  Rush  charging  Hippocrates  with 
killing  millions,  by  letting  Nature  loose  upon  sick 
people,  and  Sir  John  Forbes,  Drs.  Bigelow,  Gould, 
Cotting,  Hooker,  and  all  other  Hippocratic  practition- 
ers, holding  Dr.  Eush,  and  other  heroic  doctors,  re- 
sponsible for  the  lives  of  as  many  millions  more.  In 
the  meau  time  all  other  branches  of  science  have  been 
steadily  progressing  —  astronomy,  chemistry,  geology, 
constantly  adding  new  principles  and  new  facts,  having 
no  "counter  currents,"  and  never  subject  "to  outside 
influences,  political,  religious,  or  imaginative." 


DOCTORS  DIFFER." 


209 


Why  is  it  that  while  all  other  branches  of  Science ^ 
including  the  collateral  branches  of  Medicine^  Anato- 
my^ Physiology^  Pathology^  and  Nosology^  have  so 
steadily  advanced,  Therapeutics,  that  important 
branch  which  regards  the  discovery  and  application 
of  remedies  for  disease,  has  stood  still  for  two  thou- 
sand years? 

The  reason  for  this  anomaly  in  science  seems  to  be 
this  :  We  have  been  fumbling  at  the  door  of  -Nature's 
great  medical  storehouse  for  six  thousand  years,  in  the 
dark,  with  the  wrong  key  —  one  which  never  can  un- 
lock it. 

Geology  never  did  much  while  its  "  dead  hand  "  held 
on  to  misinterpreted  theology.  Chemistry  made  no  ad- 
vances while  it  amused  itself  by  chasing  the  phantoms 
of  alchemy.  Astronomy  stood  still  till  Galileo's  tele- 
scope revealed  the  simple  law  which  governs  it.  And 
Medical  Science  is  drifted  everywhere  by  "  currents  and 
counter  currents,"  till  it  recognizes  the  simple  law  of 
Nature,  which  God,  in  infinite  mercy,  has  given  to  guide 
it,  —  "  Similia  similibus  curanturJ^  But  wherever  this 
law  is  recognized,  the  Science  of  Medicine  has  pro- 
gressed as  steadily  as  any  other  science. 

Look  at  the  Materia  Medica  of  the  two  systems,  as 
they  have  been  developed  by  the  last  fifty  years  of  time. 
Hundreds  of  articles  have  been  tested  by  old  school 
physicians  on  the  sick,  and  thousands  of  patients  have 
been  killed  in  the  experiments,  as  the  doctors  them- 
selves acknowledge,  and  not  a  half  dozen  of  all  the 
medicines  have  continued  in  general  use  for  any  con- 
14  - 


210 


EXPERIENCE  IN  MEDICINE. 


secutive  ten  years  of  practice ;  while  every  article  of 
well  proved  homeopathic  medicine  which  was  used 
fifty  years  ago  is  used  now  by  every  homeopathic 
physician.  And  of  the  hundreds  of  articles  which 
have  since  been  proved,  by  experiment  (not  on  the 
sick,  but  on  ourselves,  thus  avoiding  the  sacrifices  con- 
sequent on  old  school  experiments),  not  one  that  has 
been  fairly  proved  to  be  useful  is  ever  afterwards  con- 
demned or  abandoned. 

Experience  {that  is,  experiment  on  the  sick)  can 
never  open  the  treasures  of  medical  science. 

And  yet  this  it  is  that  has  been  fostering  chimeri- 
cal hopes  "  since  the  world  began. 

The  old  school  physicians,  together  with  irregular 
practitioners,  of  all  grades  of  intellect  and  acquirements, 
down  to  the  meanest  impostor  that  vends  his  well-known 
drugs  under  the  guise  of  a  new  name,  all  trust  to  what 
they  call  exp'erience ;  and  this  they  have  done  from  time 
immemorial.  But  experience*  as  a  standard  for  testing 
the  value  of  medicine,  is  not  only  fallacious,  but  is  the 
basis  of  all  empiricism,  as  we  can  readily  show  by  a 
glance  at  its  history. 

Probably  the  first  man  or  woman  who  felt  a  severe 
pain  sought  relief  in  some  remedy.  If  relief  came 
soon,  that  remedy  had  the  credit  of  cure ;  if  not,  and 
other  remedies  were  tried,  the  last  experiment  had  the 
credit.  Meantime  Nature  was  making  an  effort  to 
relieve  the  sufferer  in  her  own  way,  and  when  relief 
came,  who  could  tell  whether  it  came  on  account  of  the 
medicine  or  in  spite  of  it?    If  relief  did  not  come,  and 


EXPEDIENCE  IN  MEDICINE.        ^  211 

the  patient  died,  who  could  tell  whether  he  died  of  the 
disease  or  the  remedy  ? 

Experiments,  thus  commenced,  have  been  continued 
without  any  manifest  improvement  of  system  for.  six 
thousand  years.  Everything  under  heaven  —  animal, 
vegetable,  mineral,  or  excrementitious  —  has  been  tried 
on  some  poor  sick  patient ;  thousands  and  even  millions 
have,  been  killed  in  these  experiments,  as  the  doctors 
themselves  acknowledge  ;  and  every  medicine  in  its  turn 
has  been  condemned  as  injurious  or  useless,  excepting 
six  articles ;  and  even  these  are  not  all  fully  admitted 
as  specifics :  Arsenic,  Mercury,  Sulphur,  Cinchona, 
Iodine,  and  Colchicum.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  re- 
sults of  six  thousand  years  of  experiments  with  drugs 
on  sick  people ;  six  medicines  actually  ascertained  to 
be  useful  in  as  many  different  diseases  —  one  for  each 
millennium  of  experiment. 

Besides  these  six  articles  of  the  materia  medica^ 
*  there  is  not  one  which  is  not  discarded  by  many  physi- 
cians as  either  injurious  or  useless, —  some  schools,  and 
some  neighborhoods  of  physicians,  having  confidence 
in  one  set  of  articles,  and  some  in  another,  experiment- 
ing for  a  while  with  one  article,  and  then  leaving  it  for 
another. 

Thus  we  have  gone  on,  generation  after  generation, 
and  century  after  century  —  everything  else  chiming  to 
be  scientific  gradually  improving ;  but  old  school  thera- 
peutics absolutely  standing  still :  and  these  facts  are  free- 
ly admitted  by  our  best  physicians,  as  we  have  seen. 

I  remember  being  startled,  forty  years  ago,  while  a 


212 


EXPERIENCE  WORTHLESS. 


member  of  the  Harvard  School,  by  the  announcement 
of  the  professor,  then  our  oracle  in  Therapeutics,  that 
after  twenty-five  years'  experience  in  the  use  of  emetics, 
as  a  means  of  breaking  up  fevers,  he  had  just  learned 
that  his  experience  was  useless.  He  supposed  he 
had  thus  broken  up  hundreds  of  fevers ;  but  by  the 
experiments  of  the  celebrated  Louis  of  Paris,  just  then 
published,  it  had  been  proved  that  as  many  fevers 
would  go  on  after  an  emetic  as  without  one  —  thus 
proving  worthless  the  experience  in  that  matter  of  one 
of  our  most  clear-headed  and  most  observing  professors. 
If  such  a  man  could  not  decide  between  the  effects  of 
medicine  and  the  efforts  of  Nature,  who  could  decide? 

Louis  also  tested  many  other  articles  of  the  materia 
medica^  and  many  other  modes  of  treatment,  with  re- 
sults equally  humiliating  to  what  is  called  experience  in 
medicine.  I  give  you  a  summary  of  statistics,  collected 
from  reliable  authorities. 

In  cases  of  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  collected  from  * 
hospitals  in  Glasgow,  Vienna,  London,  Paris,  and  some 
other  of  the  best  hospitals  in  Europe,  the  percentage 
of  death  varied  in  direct  proportion  to  the  harshness  of 
the  treatment.  Under  the  best  old  school  physicians, 
it  ranged  from  fourteen  to  twenty-four  per  cent.,  while 
the  number  of  deaths  of  patients,  with  the  same  nursing, 
left  to  Nature,  was  only  from  seven  to  eight  per  cent. 
In  this  disease,  therefore,  medicine  destroyed  over  seven 
per  cent,  of  patients.  In  other  diseases,  where  the 
treatment  was  less  heroic,  the  percentage  was  less  — 
four,  and  even  three  per  cent. ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 


EXPERIENCE  WORTHLESS. 


213 


in  one  hospital  where  bleeding  and  emetics  were  freely 
administered,  more  than  twenty  per  cent,  died  —  prov- 
ing that  two  thirds  of  the  deaths  were  produced  by  the 
treatment. 

Surely  these  are  not  the  legitimate  effects  of  medi- 
cines, which  are  among  the  things  pronounced  by  their 
Maker  to  be  "very  good."  They  are,  however,  the 
legitimate  results  of  experiments  on  the  sick,  and  are, 
it  seems  to  me,  sufficient  to  show  that  experience,  as 
the  means  of  developing  medical  resources,  has  proved 
a  disastrous  failure. 

I  have  elsewhere  shown  that  Nature  is  very  lavish 
in  her  distributions  of  medical  agents,  furnishing  then 
in  the  weeds,  flowers,  mineral  combinations,  and  ani 
mal  poisons  ;  so  that,  everywhere,  are  found  the  means 
of  alleviating  sufferings  and  assisting  Nature  in  the 
cure  of  disease.  And  is  it  reasonable  that  these  ines- 
timable blessings  should  be  strewed  in  every  pathway, 
and  no  means  given  to  ascertain  their  healing  virtues 
except  by  such  miserable  experiments  on  the  sick  as 
these  to  which  we  have  referred?  What  might  be  ex- 
pected, is  found  to  be  true,  — 

There  is  a  simple  law  by  which  any  medicine  can 
be  tested^  and  its  virtues  ascertained^  with  unerring 
certainty^  without  these  dangerous  experiments  on  the 
sick  and  suffering.  • 

And  the  wonder  is  that  for  six  thousand  years  the 
world  should  grope  in  darkness  without  discovering  the 
light  of  it. 

The  naturalist  will  take  a  single  bone  of  an  animal 


214 


THE  NEW  LAW. 


which  he  has  never  seen,  and  from  it  will  construct  the 
animal  from  w:hich  it  was  taken  —  show  his  disposition, 
the  arrangements  of  his  digestive  organs,  his  habits, 
and  the  kind  of  food  on  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
live.  All  this  is  done  by  inductive  reasoning,  from 
the  known  uniformity  of  Nature's  laws,  as  shown  in 
the  construction  of  different  classes  of  animals. 

The  astronomer  will-  watch  the  motion  of  a  new 
comet,  and,  after  a  few  nights  or  weeks,  it  may  be, 
will  tell  you  how  far  it  is  from  the  sun,  how  near  it  will 
ever  go  to  it,  how  far  off  it  will  ever  go,  and  when  it 
will  return.  And  this  he  does  by  induction  from  the 
laws  which  regulate  the  motion  of  heavenly  bodies. 

A  careful  observer  will  take  a  plant  or  a  drug  which 
he  never  before  heard  of,  and,  taking  a  portion  of  it 
himself,  carefully  watching  its  effects,  and  giving  to 
twenty  or  thirty  friends  each  equal  portions,  and  noting 
the  effects  on  each,  will,  with  a  few  repetitions,  get 
symptoms  from  which  he  can  tell  what  disease,  or 
combination  of  symptoms,  that  plant  or  drug  is  adapted 
to  cure,  with  as  perfect  accuracy  as  the  naturalist  or 
the  astronomer  in  the  cases  referred  to.  And  his  con- 
clusions are  formed  by  the  same  unerring  process  of 
induction  from  Nature's  laws. 

By  this  process  have  been  tested,  for  the  last  fifty 
years  and  more,  the  virtues  of  very  many  medicines, 
every  one  of  which,  after  millions  of  trials,  is  now  used 
for  the  same  symptoms  of  disease,  and  with  the  same 
satisfactory  result  as  was  obtained  by  them  fifty  years 
ago.    Scientific  physicians  have  since  proved,  in  the 


THE  NEW  LAW. 


215 


same  way,  with  more  or  less  care,  in  all  now  over  four 
hundred  different  medicines,  every  one  of  which  that 
has  been  carefully  proved  to  produce  distinct  symptoms 
on  well  persons,  is  confidently  used  to  cure  similar 
symptoms  in  the  sick.  And  this  is  the  simple  law  to 
which  I  referred. 

Need  I  give  you  further  evidence  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence of  a  law  by  which  to  test  the  value  of  any  medi- 
cine, without  the  miserable  farce,  or  rather  tragedy,  of 
testing  poisonous  drugs  on  poor  sick  people  ?  If  fur- 
ther proof  is  needed  of  the  truth  and  the  value  of  this 
law,  you  have  it  in  the  results  of  its  practice.  Take, 
in  the  first  place,  diseases  which  appear  in  new  forms, 
or  rather,  perhaps,  in  forms  in  which  we  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  see  them.  We  have  not  to  hunt  up  prece- 
dents, or  to  wait  to  try  experiments,  but  carefully 
noting  the  symptoms,  and  comparing  them  with  the 
symptoms  of  different  medicines,  we  select  our  remedy 
with  almost  unerring  accuracy  —  at  least  with  greater 
accuracy  than,  without  this  law,  we  could  obtain  by 
experience  with  the  most  familiar  diseases.  This  ad- 
vantage has  been  recently  seen  in  diphtheria.  Especially 
on  its  first  advent  to  a  city  or  neighborhood,  the  per- 
centage of  recovery  has  always  been  manifestly  in  favor 
of  homeopathic  treatment,  where  it  has  had  a  fair  trial. 
But  having  no  statistics  to  support  this  assertion,  we 
can  only  appeal  to  general  observations  in  regard  to 
this  disease. 

But  in  cholera  the  advantage  of  homeopathy  has 
been  established  beyond  a  question.    In  the  aggregate 


216 


SYSTEMS  COMPARED. 


of  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-nine  cases, 
in  nine  of  the  principal  old  school  hospitals  of  Europe, 
there  occurred  two  thousand  and  eighty-nine  deaths  — 
fifty-four  per  cent.  ;  while  in  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  cases  of  the  same  epidemic,  in  six 
homeopathic  hospitals,  there  occurred  but  five  hundred 
and  one  deaths  —  twenty-nine  percent. — a  mortality 
only  about  half  as  great.  And  in  Edinburgh  and 
Leith,  as  reported  by  the  General  Board  of  Health, 
in  all  the  cases  that  occurred  in  four  months,  from 
October  4  to  February  1,  1849,  the  deaths  under  old 
school  practice  were  eighty-four  and  a  half  per  cent., 
while  under  homeopathic  treatment  they  were  twenty- 
four  and  a  half  per  cent. — three  deaths  to  one.  In 
some  other  diseases  not  new,  the  difference  is  less 
striking. 

In  pneumonia,  in  which  we  have  seen  that  nearly 
one  half  the  deaths  were  produced  by  crude  drugs, 
one  quarter  were  saved  by  homeopathic,  compared  with 
expectant.    The  exact  statement  is  :  — 

Under  homeopathic  treatment,  deaths  5  to  6  per  cent. 
Under  allopathic  treatment,  deaths  14  to  24  per  cent. 
Under  expectant,*  deaths  7  to  8  per  cent. 

In  typhus  fever  :  — 
Under  homeopathic  treatment,  deaths  10-^^  per  cent. 
Under  allopathic  treatment,  deaths  21^^  per  cent. 
Under  expectant,  deaths  17^^^  per  cent. 

*  Trusting  to  Nature  without  medicines. 


OLD  SCH'OOL  TESTIMONY. 


217 


These  statistics  are  from  the  Vienna  hospitals,  side 
by  side  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and  show  that  in 
this  disease  four  per  cent,  were  lost  by  crude  drugs, 
and  seven  per  cent,  were  saved  by  homeopathic  treat- 
ment, as  compared  with  expectant,  or  do-nothing, 
treatment. 

In  diseases  of  children,  as  shown  by  statistics  from 
the  different  orphan  asylums  in  New  York,  the  ratio 
of  mortality,  in  a  series  of  twelve  years,  was  more  than 
three  to  one  in  favor  of  homeopathic  treatment,  as  seen 
by  the  medical  report. 

We  have  also  the  testimony  of  an  old  school  physi- 
cian, given  under  circumstances  which  make  it  signifi- 
cant and  interesting.  In  1852,  Dr.  Roath  published 
in  London  a  book  which  he  entitled  the  "Fallacies  of 
Homeopathy,"  which,  he  says,  he  was  constrained  to 
do,  because  "this  system  has  unfortunately  lately  made, 
and  continues  to  make,  such  progress  in  this  country, 
and  the  metropolis  in  particular,  and  is  daily  extending 
its  influence  even  amongst  the  most  learned,  and  those 
whose  high  position  in  society  gives  them  no  little  moral 
power  over  the  opinions  of  the  multitude,  that  our  pro- 
fession is,  I  think,  bound  to  make  it  the  subject  of 
inquiry  and  investigation."  To  that  end  he  collected 
statistics  of  different  hospitals,  to  the  number  of  thirty- 
two  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-five  homeopathic 
cases,  and  compared  them  with  an  equal  number  of 
cases  from  old  school  hospitals,  honestly,  I  doubt  not, 
intending  to  select  cases  so  nearly  alike  as  fairly  to 
prove  which  was  the  best  mode^  of  treatment ;  but  he 


218  STATISTICS  IN  MEDICINE. 

was  astonished  to  find  that  the  mortality  under  old 
school  treatment  was  10^5_  per  cent.,  while  under 
homeopathic  treatment   it  was   only  4^%   per  cent. 
Still  he  was  honest  enough  to  publish  the  results; 
but,  to  let  himself  down  gently,  he  thought  the  home- 
opathic cases  must  have  been  mild  cases.    His  reasons 
for  that  opinion,  however,  1  give  in  his  own  words  : 
"Proportionally  to  their  number  of  beds,  they  admit 
more  patients,  perhaps  twice  as  many,  as  in  other  hos- 
pitals.   And  will  not  this  be  evidence  that  they  have 
a  large  number  of  milder  cases?"    With  this  and  two 
or  three  other  similar  eflForts  to  nullify  the  influence  of 
his  own  facts,  he  sends  the  book  out  to  the  London 
world  to  stop  the  influence  of  homeopathy  amongst 
its  "most  learned  citizens."     How' much  influence  it 
had  among  the  citizens  for  whom  it  was  intended,  I 
have*  no  means  of  knowing ;  but  it  certainly  did  help 
to  establish  the  fact  that  homeopathy  not  only  saves 
life,  but  cuts  short  diseases.    What  other  reasonable 
explanation  can  be  given  to  the  fact  that  a  greater 
number,  by  nearly  one  half,  was  admitted  to  the  same 
bed&,  than  that  by  the  same  proportion  the  diseases 
were  cut  shorter?    And  this  inference  is  corroborated 
by  other  statistics,  as  follows  :  — 

By  statistics  from  the  same  source  as  that  of  those 
efore  given,  it  is  shown  that  the  mean  duration  of 
eumonia  was,  — 

nder  homeopathic  treatment,  llf  days, 
ider  old  school  treatment,  29  days, 
ier  do-nothing  treatment,  20  days. 


EXAMPLES  OF  CURE. 


219 


Showing,  that  while  it  takes  longer  to  get  well  by  old 
school  treatment  than  by  trusting  to  Nature,  it  takes 
much  less  than  half  the  time  to  get  well  of  pneumonia 
under  homeopathic  treatment. 

Dr.  Kurtz  compiled  a  table  of  the  mean  duration  of 
all  diseases  in  the  hospitals  of  Paris,  Berlin,  and  Got- 
tingen,  under  old  school  treatment,  as  compared  with 
the  hospitals  of  Vienna,  Munich,  and  Leipzig,  under 
homeopathic  treatment ;  and  the  average  was,  — 

Under  old  school,  28  days. 
Under  homeopathic,  20  days. 

A  saving  of  more  than  one  quarter  of  the  time.  These 
statistics  show  the  error  of  our  enemies,  who  insist  that 
"Homeopathy  is  a  specious  mode  of  doing  nothing"  — 
proving  as  they  do,  incontestably,  that  in  the  gravest 
diseases  it  both  saves  life  and  cuts  short  disease.  And 
this  accords  with  the  testimony  of  all  who  have  com- 
pared it,  as  many  of  us  have,  with  the  expectant  as 
well  as  with  the  heroic  mode  of  treatment.  But  do 
not  the  imagination,  change  of  diet  and  regimen, 
often  have  an  effect  which  is  mistaken  for  the  effect  of 
medicine  ?  Undoubtedly,  in  some  cases ;  but  in  other 
cases  th3  proof  is  irresistible  that  no  such  influences 
exist. 

Take,  besides  the  statistics  already  given,  chronic 
cases  of  disease,  especially  of  children,  which  are 
treated  without  change  of  diet  or  regimen,  and  such 
explanations  are,  of  course,  inadmissible.  Scores  of 
such  cases  can  be  collected  from  the  books  of  homeo- 


220  IS  HOMEOPATHY  REASONABLE? 

pathic  physicians  in  Boston,  who  would  testify  that 
they  have  seen  the  effects  of  homeopathic  medicine 
under  circumstances  which  preclude  the  idea  that 
Nature,  or  change  of  diet,  or  regimen,  or  imagination, 
can  come  in  to  deceive  them.  Of  hundreds  of  such 
cases  take  one  :  — 

A  child,  three  years  old,  had  been  wasting  away  with 
diarrhoea,  vomiting  of  food,  and  restlessness,  pain  and 
sleeplessness,  for  eighteen  months.  Advice  from  various 
sources  had  been  taken ;  but  getting  discouraged,  for 
six  months  nothing  had  been  done  but  to  feed  it  with 
milk,  of  which  it  could  bear  but  very  little. 

It  was  a  mere  skeleton,  with  a  wrinkled  skin  hang- 
ing loosely  upon  it.  Its  parents,  supposing  it  was 
soon  to  die,  asked  for  homeopathic  medicine  to  help  it 
to  die  comfortably.  One  globule  of  arsenic  was  given 
at  night,  so  diluted  that  a  dose  could  be  given  to  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  Massachusetts  without  con- 
suming a  single  grain  ;  and,  for  the  first  time  for  months, 
that  night  it  slept  well,  without  vomiting  its  milk. 

No  change  was  made  in  any  of  its  circumstances, 
and  no  medicine  was  given  except  one  such  globule 
every  second  night ;  and  in  two  months  it  had  gained 
flesh,  and  was  well.  If  this  case  were  solitary, 
it  might  be  considered  a  wonderful  coincidence;  but 
similar  cases,  occurring  almost  daily,  afford  conclusive 
evidence  of  the  power  of  homeopathic  medicine  in 
doses  at  first  sight  ridiculously  inadequate  to  the  ef- 
fects claimed  for  them.  But  analogous  facts  in  Nature 
are  seen  all  about  us,  which  ought  to  show  the  absurdity 


IS  HOMEOPATHY  REASONABLE? 


221 


of  refusing  to  investigate  homeopathy  on  account  of  its 
claims  to  infinitesimal  influences. 

A  man  dies  in  awful  agony,  after  indescribable  suf- 
fering, because  a  particle  of  saliva  from  a  rabid  dog  has 
entered  the  skin  by,  perhaps,  a  very  slight  scratch. 
The  amount  of  poison  that  produced  these  terrible 
effects  may  have  been  so  perfectly  infinitesimal  that 
no  chemical  or  other  test  could  detect  a  difference  be- 
tween the  saliva  which  produced  that  effect  and  the 
saliva  of  a  healthy  dog. 

Again :  the  microscope  can  scarcely  detect,  and  the 
senses  cannot  recognize,  the  infinitesimal  particles  of 
malaria  which,  conveyed  in  the  atmosphere,  and  taken 
into  the  human  system,  produce  chills  and  fever,  and 
internal  derangements  that  last  for  years,  and  often 
produce  death. 

Cases  are  also  know^n  of  individuals  so  susceptible  to 
an  influence  from  dry  ipecac  that  they  are  thrown  into 
frightful  spasms  and  such  stridulous  breathing  as  to 
endanger  life  in  some  cases,  even  in  the  room  adjoin- 
ing that  in  which  it  is  being  put  up  in  a  small  quantity. 
Many  a  man,  also,  has  had  his  eyes  shut  up,  and  been 
kept  at  home  for  days  and  weeks,  because  he  went  into 
the  neighborhood  of  ivy  or  dogwood. 

Cases,  too,  of  severe  inflammation  and  fever  have 
been  produced  by  aroma  from  roses,  almost  realizing 
the  poetic  idea  of  "  dying  of  a  rose,  in  aromatic  pain  ; " 
and  other  instances  of  infinitesimal  influence  on  the 
human  system  in  health  will  occur  to  the  mind  of  every 
careful  observer.     And  shall  we  refuse  to  admit  the 


222    ACKNOWLEDGED  EFFECTS  OF  SMALL  DOSES. 

possibility  of  similar  influences  on  the  more  susceptible 
human  system  when  diseased  ? 

Indeed,  it  is  admitted  by  all  old  school  physicians 
that  the  articles  of  medicine  called  specifics  will  produce 
an  effect  ifi  very  small  doses.  Fowler's  Solution  is  a 
form  of  arsenic  more  used  than  any  other,  in  doses  as 
small  as  those  given  by  many  homeopathic  physicians. 

Many  other  of  the  empirical  preparations  which  have 
been  analyzed  and  adopted  by  the  faculty,  owe  their 
virtues  to  exceedingly  minute  portions  of  corrosive 
sublimate  or  other  medicines.  Iodine  inhalations  also 
are  but  the  homeopathic  use  of  that  drug,  for  we  find 
it  makes  no  difference  how  a  medicine  is  introduced 
into  the  system,  whether  by  inhalation,  absorption,  or 
through  the  mouth  and  stomach.  But  the  most  mar- 
vellous example  of  the  practice  of  homeopathy,  without 
knowing  it,  is  seen  in  what  is  called  subcutaneous 
injections,  where  very  small  quantities  of  medicine  are 
inserted  under  the  skin  with  wonderful  effect.  Dr. 
James  McCrath,  of  the  British  Seamen's  Hospital  in 
Smyrna,  published  in  Braithwaite's  Journal  a  report 
of  fifty  cases  of  intermittent  fever  treated  by  one  or 
two  grains  of  quinine  injected  into  the  skin  of  the  arm, 
and  the  results  were  more  satisfactory  than  in  patients 
treated  by  twenty  grains  by  the  mouth ;  and  he  says 
that  Dr.  Chesseaud  (who  introduced  it)  will  have  a 
rio'ht  to  a  reward  from  all  civilized  governments  in  the 
world,  seeing  the  immense  economy  of  quinine  it  will 
effect  in  all  hospitals.  Now,  it  is  easy  to  bring  a 
thousand  cases  of  cure  of  intermittent  fever  by  homeo- 


ANTILOGOUS  EXAMPLES. 


223 


pathic  doses  of  quinine  vastly  less  than  those  injected 
into  the  arm ;  but  we  have  never  thought  of  getting  a 
patent  on  account  of  the  economy  of  the  practice. 
Sulphur  and  iodine  are  also  acknowledged  to  do  good 
in  springs  but  very  slightly  impregnated  with  them ; 
and  thus  we  have  an  acknowledgment  that  all  the 
specifics  can  produce  their  effect  in  very  small  doses. 
See,  too,  the  reasonableness  of  the  homeopathic  idea 
that  the  specific  influence  of  drugs  is  not  dependent 
on  the  quantity  or  strength  of  the  medicine  used,  all 
that  is  useful  in  a  medicine  being  as  well  obtained  from 
a  little  as  from  more. 

Hydrophobia  is  just  as  fatal  when  induced  by  the 
slightest  scratch  from  the  poisoned  tooth  as  when  pro- 
duced by  severe  laceration.  Intermittent  fever  is  as 
severe  when  induced  by  a  single  hour  of  exposure  to 
its  malaria  as  when  under  its  influence  for  months. 
Poison  from  ivy  or  dogwood  is  just  as  severe  if  in- 
duced by  passing  near  it  as  by  handling  or  chewing 
it.  Vaccination  is  as  effectual  when  induced  by  matter 
from  the  point  of  a  needle  as  the  point  of  a  jackknife, 
and  small-pox  is  no  more  likely  to  be  fatal  when  taken 
from  one  dying  with  the  disease  than  when  taken  from 
the  mildest  case  of  varioloid. 

The  specific  influence,  in  these  cases,  may  be  more 
sure  to  follow  a  thorough  than  a  slight  inoculation ;  but 
if  any  effect  at  all  is  produced,  it  seems  to  be  the  same 
in  either  case. 

Analogous  to  these  effects  seem  to  be  the  specific 
effects  of  homeopathic  medicine ;  so  that  while  nothing 


224  r>osE  OF  medicine. 

can  be  more  clearly  proved  than  the  homeopathic  law 
that  medicines  which  in  large  doses  will  produce 
symptoms  of  disease  will  in  small  doses  cure  similar 
symptoms,  yet  it  may  be  difficult  to  decide  whether 
the  tenth  or  the  ten-thousandth  of  a  grain  is  the  best 
dose.  Indeed,  the  limit  beyond  which,  a  medicine  can 
be  so  attenuated  as  to  cease  to  produce  its  specific  effect 
has  never  been  ascertained.  But,  practically,  it  is  only 
important  to  ascertain  what  dose  is  most  sure  to  do 
good  without  the  power  of  doing  harm. 

For  example  :  the  tenth  of  a  grain  of  nux  vomica  will 
cure  a  certain  form  of  sick  headache,  and  it  is  claimed 
that  the  trillionth  of  a  grain  will  do  the  same  thing  ;  -but 
it  is  possible  that  the  tenth  may  be  capable  of  doing  some 
harm  by  inducing  other  symptoms  of  disease,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  high  dilution,  being  more  influenced 
by  surrounding  circumstances,  may  be  more  uncertain, 
while  a  medium  attenuation  might  avoid  either  evil. 
The  one  dose  is  as  truly  homeopathic  as  the  other, 
and,  by  analogy  with  other  influences  just  cited,  one 
dose  may  produce  equal  eflfects  with  the  other.  While, 
therefore,  we  may  see  no  advantage  in  adopting  high 
dilutions,  we  should,  at  least,  be  taught,  by  analogous 
influences,  not  to  ridicule  them. 

While  visiting  a  patient,  on  the  day  of  the  annular 
eclipse  in  1830,  I  found  a  man  in  bed  in  the  middle  of 
the  forenoon.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  sick.  He  said 
No,  but  he  had  heard  there  was  to  be  a  terrible  eclipse, 
and  he  staid  in  bed.  I  asked  his  views  of  astronomy, 
but  he  said  he  knew  nothing  about  astronomy,  and  he 


HOW  DECIDE  WHEN  "DOCTORS  DIFFER"?  225 

wouldn't  know  anything  about  it,  the  thing  was  so  ab- 
surd. ''Why,"  said  he,  "how  could  I  lie  in  bed  with 
the  world  t'other  side  up  half  of  the  time  ?  "  The  argu- 
ment was  certainly  plausible,  but  it  neither  convinced 
astronomers  of  error  in  their  calculations,  nor  did  it 
stop  the  eclipse.  The  idea  of  the  absurdity  of  the  rota- 
tion of  the  earth  so  blinded  him,  that  he  did  not  see  that 
he  was  doing  homage  to  astronomy  by  his  very  fears 
of  an  eclipse  according  to  astronomical  calculation. 

Not  exactly  a  parallel  is  seen  in  those  who  will  not 
investigate  the  principles  of  homeopathy  because  of  the 
absurdity  of  the  idea  of  power  in  infinitesimal  doses. 
But  I  have  lately  met  a  case  more  nearly  parallel,  in  a 
doctor  who  would  not  investigate  the  infinitesimal  hum- 
bug, or  any  other  humbug,  but  who  has  made  a  patient 
believe  that  a  lameness  of  the  knees  was  caused  by 
homeopathic  medicine  settling  in  them.  The  patient 
had  taken,  perhaps,  the  millionth  of  a  grain  of  medicine, 
every  night,  for  some  weeks.  The  doctor  had  seen  a 
number  of  cases  before  where  homeopathic  medicine 
had  produced  a  similar  effect. 

But  how  decide,  when  doctors  disagree?  Why  not 
put  us  on  our  reasons  and  our  facts,  and  decide  from 
them?  Suppose  the  question  before  us  was.  Which  is 
safest  and  most  comfortable  for  a  passage  across  the 
Atlantic,  a  wind-ship  or  a  steamship  ?  An  experienced 
ship-master  tells  you  the  wind-ship  is  safest  and  best  i 
he  has  tried  them  for  years,  and  he  knows;  he  would 
on  no  account  trust  himself  in  a  steamship ;  it  might 
blow  up.  But  another  master,  who  has  tried  hothf 
15 


226  PROFUSION  OF  MEDICINES. 

says  the  steamship  is  safest  and  most  comfortable ;  and 
he  tells  you  why,  and  oiFers  statistics  to  prove  his  posi- 
tion.   Whose  testimony  will  you  take?    We  offer  the 
testimony  of  those  who  have  tried  both  modes  of  prac- 
tice, that  homeopathy  is  a  fixed  law  of  Nature  ;  that  it 
is  the  safest,  quickest,  and  most  reliable  mode  of  cure 
in  the  gravest  diseases  ;  and  we  offer  to  show  you  that  its 
principles  are  in  harmony  with  all  of  Nature's  laws,  and 
therefore  reasonable.    Let  us,  for  a  moment,  compare 
the  deductions  from  this  law  with  the  teachings  of  old 
school  therapeutics,  and  see  which  is  most  reasonable. 

It  is  admitted  that  six  medicines  are  capable  of  curing 
six  different  forms  of  disease.  Is  it  reasonable  that  all 
other  medicines  should  be  so  constituted  as  to  do  more 
harm  than  good?  Sulphur  will  cure  the  itch,  mercury 
will  cure  syphilis,  quinine  will  cure  fever  and  ague, 
iodine  will  cure  goitre,  colchicum  will  cure  some  forms 
of  rheumatism,  and  arsenic  will  cure  a  disease  of  the  skin. 
But  according  to  old  school  doctrines,  all  other  diseases 
are  safest  in  the  hands  of  Nature,  or  at  least  have  no 
medicine  specifically  provided  for  them,  while  all  other 
medicines,  doing  more  harm  than  good,  might,  but  for 
the  welfare  of  the  fishes,  be  sunk  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

There  are  known  to  be  thousands  of  medicines  as 
capable  of  affecting  the  human  system  as  arsenic,  or 
mercury,  or  quinine,  or  sulphur,  or  iodine,  or  colchi- 
cum;  and  thousands  of  diseases  as  distinct  in  their 
manifestations  as  those  which  are  cured  by  these  medi- 
cines. And  yet,  according  to  ^Id  school  theory,  these 
six  articles  are  all  that  are  adapted  to  cure  any  particu- 


CRUDE  DRUGS  DO  HARM. 


227 


lar  form  of  disease.  Does  this  accord  witli  the  uni- 
formity of  Nature's  common  laws?  *Now  compare  this 
theory  with  deductions  from  the  homeopathic  law,  and 
see  which  is  most  reasonable.  It  is  admitted  that  six 
medicines,  by  a  secret  power,  to  use  the  words  of  Dr. 
Bigelow,  "  produce  a  change  in  the  system  favorable  to 
recovery  from  disease,"  and  that  in  doses  so  small  as  to 
be  tasteless  and  to  produce  no  injury. 

From  this  fact  we  infer  that  all  other  medicines  were 
intended  to  act  in  the  same  way  on  their  own  appropri- 
ate diseases,  and  this  inference  is  corroborated,  and 
proved  beyond  reasonable  controversy,  by  the  homeo- 
pathic proof  that  at  least  four  hundred  other  medicines 
do  produce  similar  effects  on  as  many  different  forms 
of  disease.  Will  any  man,  claiming  to  understand 
Nature's  laws,  say  that  this  homeopathic  inference  is 
unreasonable  ? 

The  susceptibility  of  drugs  to  do  evil  is  evidently 
given  them  to  show  us  what  diseases  they  are  capable 
of  curing ;  and  by  rightly  using  these  evils  we  convert 
them  into  blessings.  Every  case  of  poisoning  from 
arsenic,  mercury,  belladonna,  aconite,  or  any  other 
drug  that  was  ever  recorded,  is  made  the  means  of 
relieving  similar  suffering  by  the  use  of  the  same  medi- 
cines in  homeopathic  practice.  The  only  use  home- 
opathists  make  of  crude  drugs  is  to  study  their  evil 
influences,  and  use  the  same  remedies  in  homeopathic- 
doses  to  relieve  similar  symptoms  of  disease :  this  we 
do  *  every  day.  Can  we  believe  that  our  heavenly 
Father  intends  that,  when  suffering  from  pain  and 


228  NATURE  PROVIDES  NO  EVILS. 

sickness,  we  should  add  to  our  sufFering  by  taking  dis- 
cTustincr  druo-s  which  are  in  themselves  evils,  and  that 
we  should  make  no  efFort  to  make  them  palatable  and 
innoxious?    Our  food  is  furnished  us  in  a  crude,  un- 
palatable condition ;  but  we  have  intellects  to  adapt  it 
to  our  taste  and  requirements,  and  when  we  rightly  use 
them,  we  both  relish  it  and  are  conscious  of  its  adapta- 
tion to  our  wants.    So  God  evidently  intended  we 
should  use  our  reason  in  adapting  crude  medicines  to 
our  taste  and  requirements,  and  when  we  do  so,  we  are 
rewarded  by  the  same  evidence  of  its  adaptation.  If, 
instead  of  relief,  we  get  evils  from  medicine,  we  may 
be  sure  we  have  mistaken  the  remedy  or  have  given  it 
in  an  improper  condition  or  quantity,  just  as  we  are 
always  sure  we  have  taken  improper  food,  if,  instead  of 
gratified  appetite,  we  get  disturbance  from  it.  Other 
animals  are  furnished  both  with  food  and  medicine  in 
a  state  adapted  to  their  wants,  because  they  have  not 
sense  to  prepare  them.    The  sick  cat  takes  with  relish 
the  simple  catnip  provided  for  it,  and  suflfers  no  evils 
from  it ;  but  the  sick  child  must  swallow  drugs  which 
it  shudders  to  think  of,  and  which  disturbs  all  its  func- 
tions for  days  and  weeks,  and  sometimes  for  life.  Sure- 
ly it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  our  children  are  to  be  as 
kindly  cared  for  when  sick  as  our  cats.    Would  our 
kind  heavenly  Father  so  carefully  provide  for  us  in 
health  as  to  give  us  enjoyment  in  the  use  of  everything 
adapted  to  our  wants,  and  when  sick  consign  us  to 
blisters,  hot  irons,  cataplasms,  and  disgusting  drugs? 
Our  reason,  therefore,  as  well  as  our  humanity  and  our 


CONCLUSIONS.  229 

experience,  accords  with  the  fair  deductions  from  the 
homeopathic  law,  and  demands  that  all  things  "  in  them- 
selves evils,"  or  offensive  to  the  patient,  whether  of  diet, 
regimen,  or  medicine,  should  be  excluded  from  the  sick 
chamber  or  hospital. 

These  facts  and  deductions  seem  to  me  to  be  true  and 
sound.  If  they  are  false  or  defective,  no  one  need  be 
deceived  by  them.  If  they  are  right,  the  following  con- 
clusions are  irresistible  :  — 

1st.  That  in  Physiology,  Pathology,  Nosology,  and 
everything  pertaining  to  the  management  of  patients, 
except  Therapeutics,  the  old  school  and  the  home- 
opathic agree. 

.2d.  That  in  Therapeutics,  old  school  practitioners 
have  no  standard  but  experience,  and  no  means  of 
testing  the  value  of  medicine  but  experiments  on  the 
sick,  which  they  have  in  common  with  all  classes  of 
empi-ics,  and  which  they  acknowledge  to  have  been  the 
means  of  killing  millions  of  patients. 

3d.  That  the  result  of  all  this  sacrifice,  and  the  expe- 
rience of  six  thousand  years,  has  only  established  the 
fact  that  six  medicines  are  useful  in  as  many  different 
diseases,  and  that  all  other  articles  of  the  materia  med- 
icQy  as  now  used,  are  either  useless,  or  do  more  harm 
than  good ;  but  that,  nevertheless,  these  dangerous  ex- 
periments are  still  being  tried,  some  doctors  having 
faith  in  one  article  and  some  in  another. 

4th.  That  homeopathists  have  discovered  a  law  of 
Nature  by  which,  without  experimenting  on  the  sick, 
the  virtues  of  all  medicines  can  be  tested,  and  the 


230  CONCLUSIONS. 

symptoms  of  disease  ascertained,  which  each  is  adapted 
to  cure. 

5th,  That,  by  the  application  of  this  law,  over  three 
hundred  medicines  have  already  been  proved,  and  have 
the  confidence  of  all  homeopathic  practitioners,  some 
fifty  of  which  have  been  used  for  more  than  fifty  years 
for  the  same  symptoms  of  disease,  and  with  the  same 
satisfactory  results ;  and  that  doctors  who  have  prac- 
tised both  ways  declare  that  many  diseases  considered 
incurable  by  old  school  treatment  are  proved  to  be 
curable  by  homeopathic  treatment. 

6th.  That  it  is  susceptible  of  proof,  that  under  the 
same  collateral  circumstances,  homeopathic  will  save 
fifty  per  cent,  more  of  life  than  old  school  treatment. 

7th.  That  it  saves  all  the  suflfering  from  lancets,  hot 
irons,  caustics,  cataplasms,  emetics,  cathartics,  and  the 
whole  paraphernalia  of  torments  which  so  terrify  pa- 
tients, and  so  disgrace  the  profession,  to  say  nothing 
of  drug  diseases,  which  are  entailed  on  almost  all  who 
take  poisonous  medicines  in  large  doses;  saves  at  least 
one  quarter  of  the  time  of  the  patient,  and  consequent- 
ly one  quarter  of  his  average  expense  of  treatment, 
besides  saving  at  least  nine  tenths  of  the  expense  of 
medicines  ;  and  this  last  item  is  not  inconsiderable,  the 
Apothecary's  Report  for  Bellevue  Hospital  for  1856 
showing  a  disbursement  of  nearly  five  thousand  dollars 
for  drugs  and  medicines. 

8th.  That  its  doctrines  and  practices  are  all  conso- 
nant with  Nature's  common  laws,  and  all  commend 
themselves  to  the  common  sense  of  all  intelligent  men 
who  understand  and  practise  them. 


HOMEOPATHY  AND     RATIONAL  MEDICINE."  231 


The  only  difference  between  us  and  the  Nature-trust- 
ing practitioners  of  Boston  is  this  :  they  believe  that 
Nature  will  generally  cure  acute  diseases,  and  the 
doctor's  duty  consists  in  protecting  the  patient  from 
harmful  influences,  directing  the  diet  and  regimen, 
and  inspiring  the  confidence  of  both  patient  and 
friends.  All  this  we  do,  and  give  besides,  in  all 
cases,  medicines  which  never  interfere  with  Nature's 
efforts,  but,  if  rightly  selected,  assist  her,  and  hasten 
the  process  of  cure.  How  much  more  do  old  school 
practitioners  differ  among  themselves !  One  class 
thinks,  with  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  that  "  medication  does 
more  harm  than  good,"  and  therefore  practise  as  I 
have  intimated,  leaving  almost  all  diseases  to  Nature ; 
w^hile  another  class  thinks,  with  Dr.  Eush,  that  "mil- 
lions have  been  killed  by  letting  Nature  loose  on  sick 
people,"  and  therefore  take  almost  all  diseases  out  of 
Nature's  hands.  One  thinks  opium  and  alcohol  are 
the  two  most  valuable  articles  of  the  materia  rrmdica. 
Another  believes  that  no  two  articles  have  done,  and 
are  now  doing,  so  much  mischief  in  the  world. 

Chemical  laws  are  no  more  certain  in  their  operation 
than  is  the  homeopathic  law,  and  this  I  assert  after 
twenty  consecutive  years  of  practice  in  experimental 
chemistry.  I  am  no  more  sure  that  an  appropriate 
quantity  of  acid  will  neutralize  a  given  quantity  of 
alkali  than  I  am  sure  that  a  medicine  which  in  large 
doses  will  produce  a  headache,  will  in  small  doses  cure 
a  similar  headache.  Chemistry,  therefore,  to  my  mind, 
is  no  more  entitled  to  be  ranked  as  a  science  than  is 
homeopathy. 


232 


KIDICULE  OF  HOMEOPATHY. 


Thousands  of  educated  physicians  have  tested  it  in 
practice;  but  not  one,  to  my  knowledge,  ever  found  a 
ftict  or  an  argument  to  disprove,  or,  after  the  trial  of  a 
sino-le  year,  ever  disbelieved  it.  Indeed,  the  idea  of 
turnino-  back  again  to  what  is  technically  call'ed  Eational 
Medicine  is  as  preposterous  as  the  idea  of  turning  a 
disciple  of  Galileo  to  a  belief  in  the  old  Ptolemaic  sys- 
tem of  astronomy. 

Ridicule  of  Homeopatliy. 

Some  sage  contemporary  might  say  to  Galileo,  I  don't 
believe  in  your  philosophy,  for  the  world  could  not  turn 
round  without  spilling  the  water  from  my  well;  but 
Galileo  would  reply,  as  he  did,  Nevertheless,  the  world 
does  turn  round,  and  I  can  prove  it."  So  some  equally 
sage  professor  may  say,  I  don't  believe  in  homeopathy, 
for  I  have  never  seen  much  effect  on  the  waters  of  Lake 
Superior  by  a  drowned  louse;*  nevertheless,  the  law, 
''Similia  similibus  curaiitur,''  is  true,  and  we  can 
prove  it;  and  this  is  all  we  claim  for  homeopathy. 
The  Professor  says,  "Hahnemann  believed  in  infinitesi- 
mal doses,  and  in  psora  as  the  origin  of  many  chronic 
diseases;  and  does  not  Hahnemann  himself  represent 
homeopathy  as  it  now  exists?"  "He  certainly  ought 
to  be  its  best  representative,"  &c. 

Admit  that  Hahnemann,  in  his  dotage,  did  believe 
and  publish  some  foolish  things ;  is  homeopathy  respon- 

*  See  ''Currents  and  Counter  Currents  pi  Medical  Science,"  by 
Professor  O.  W.  Holmes. 


RATIONAL  PRACTICE . 


233 


sible  for  them,  even  while  they  were  never  adopted  as 
the  homeopathic  creed?  And  is  Rational  Medicine 
responsible  for  every  foolish  thing  its  professors  believe 
and  publish?  Let  us  try  on  a  case,  and  see  how  it  fits. 
I  cannot  believe,  with  the  rationalist,  that  typhoid  fever 
resides  on  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  tongue,  and 
can  be  scraped  off  with  a  hoe.  And  does  any  rational 
practitioner  say,  Neither  do  I  believe  such  nonsense  ;  but 
^^does  not"  your  own  Professor  of  your  own  favorite 
school  '^represent "  rational  medicine  as  it  now  exists"  ? 
"  He  certainly  ought  to  be  its  best  representative."  And 
does  he  not,  in  this  very  address,  recommend  a  hoe  as 
a  very  economical  remedy  —  "better  than  many  a  pre- 
scription with  a  split-footed  R  before  it "  ?  And  does 
he  not  enforce  his  recommendation  by  a  very  interest- 
ing scrap  of  colonial  history,  the  pith  of  which  is  that 
Winslow  scraped  the  tongue  of  Massasoit,  then  like  to 
die  of  typhoid  fever,  and  thus  saved  his  life,  and  with 
it  the  colony  ? 

Here  is  proof  that  the  Professor  believes  that 
typhoid  fever  resides  on  the  tongue,  for  how  else 
could  it  be  scraped  off.  And  thus  we  establish  the 
very  important  discovery  in  rational  medicine  :  typhoid 
fever  is  a  disease  of  the  tongue,  and  a  hoe  will  cure  it. 

Now,  ridiculous  as  is  this  representation  of  rational 
medicine,  it  is  less  a  caricature  than  any  published 
representation  of  homeopathic  doctrines  which  I  can 
find  from  the  pen  of  any  old  school  practitioner  within 
the  last  thirty  years.  See  the  Professor's  representa- 
tion of  us  in  this  very  address. 


A  DROWNED  LOUSE. 


After  charging  us  with  outraging  human  naturt, 
with  infusions  o? iJediculus  capitis,  —  that  is,  of  course, 
as  we  understand  their  dilutions,  the  names  of  these 
thino-s  ;  for  if  a  fine-tooth-comb  insect  were  drowned 
in  Lake  Superior,  we  cannot  agree  with  them  in  think- 
ing that  every  drop  of  its  waters  would  be  impregnated 
with  all  the  pedicular  virtues  they  so  highly  value,"  — 
he  says  :  "  They  know  what  they  are  doing  —  they  are 
appealing  to  the  detestable  old  superstitious  presump- 
tion in  favor  of  whatever  is  nauseous  and  noxious  as 
being  good  for  the  sick."  Here  are  three  distinct  mis- 
representations of  us  in  one  sentence  :  — 

1.  We  are  represented  as  "outraging  human  na- 
ture," and  appealing  to  the  vulgar  and  "superstitious 
presumption  in  favor  of  whatever  is  nauseous,"  and 
this  under  a  Latin  name,  and  "in  infinitesimal  sugar 
globules,"  while,  in  the  very  preceding  paragraph,  he 
has  been  referring  to  the  allopathic  use  of  medicines, 
"  transcendently  unmentionable,"  and  of  "unlovely 
secretions,"  which  were  used  undiluted. 

2.  We  are  represented  as  believing  that  a  louse, 
drowned  in  any  part  of  Lake  Superior,  would  impreg- 
nate its  waters  a  hundred  miles  off*,  against  all  "  cur- 
rents and  counter  currents"  —  a  belief  which  no  one 
"  outside  of  the  walls  of  Bedlam  "  ever  entertained. 

3.  We  are  represented  as  highly  valuing  the  virtues 
of  the  j^ediculus  capitis,  when  it  cannot  be  found  in 
any  list  of  homeopathic  remedies,  and,  I  venture  the 
assertion,  was  never  used  by  a  respectable  homeopathic 
physician  in  any  dilution.    As  a  homeopathic  remedy, 


THE  EFFECT  OF  TRITURATION.  235^ 

it  seems  to  have  come  from  the  head  of  his  friend,  Dr. 
Martin,  who  charges  us  with  hooking  the  louse  from 
the  allopathic  materia  medica^  with  fifty  other  articles, 
some  of  which  are  among  our  most  valuable  remedies. 
This  one,  however,  he  acknowledges  he  cannot  find  in 
our  list  of  remedies,  or  anywhere  else ;  but  he  under- 
stands "it  enjoys  a  distinguished  place  in  homeopathic 
pharmacy."  * 

This  addiess,  by  the  way,  affords  another  illustration 
of  the  usual  method  of  attack  on  homeopathy  —  by 
misrepresentation,  rather  than  by  facts  or  arguments. 
The  main  purpose  seems  to  be  to  show  that  homeopathy 
did  not  originate  with  Hahnemann.  And  this  he  at- 
tempts to  do  by  hunting  up  all  the  medicines  from  the 
animal,  vegetable,  or  mineral  kingdoms  used  by  Hahne- 
mann, and  then  going  back  hundreds  of  years  to  see 
how  many  of  the  same  medicines  had  been  used  before  » 
Hahnemann  w^as  born.  But  as  he  finds  among  old 
school  medicines  everythiyig  under  heaven^  he  has  left 
poor  Hahnemann  no  other  resources  but  their  materia 
medica.    And  what  does  he  prove  by  that  process  ? 

But  what  seems  most  to  amuse  the  doctor  is,  that  he 
finds  Hahnemann  guilty  of  hooking  from  their  materia 
medica  inert  substances,  as  gold,  antimony,  tin,  silica, 
&c.,  and  pretending  to  perform  wonderful  cures  with 
them,  after  trituration  with  sugar.  But  does  he  forget 
that  lead  and  mercury  are  equally  inert  substances? 
What  is  his  blue  pill,  which  has  cured  so  many  and 

*  See  Address  of  Henry  A.  Martin,  M.  D.,  of  Roxbury,  before 
the  Norfolk  County  Medical  Society,  page  26. 


236        MISREPRESENTATION  OF  HOMEOPATIIT. 

killed  so  many  patients,  but  crude  mercury  —  of  \Micli 
a  pound  could  be  taken  with  impunity  — and  conserve 
of  roses,  perseveringly  triturated  together?  Apropos 
to  our  triturations,  which  are  sources  of  such  infinite 
amusement,  let  us  remind  him  of  the  well-known  fact 
that  old  school  doctors  attribute  the  power  of  the  blue 
pill  to  such  a  minute  division  of  the  mercurial  particles 
as  to  adapt  them  to  the  capacity  of  the  absorbent  ves- 
sels. Whether  their  theory  be  right  or  not,  every 
homeopathic  physician  knows  that  gold,  and  charcoal, 
and  silica,  and  many  other  inert  substances,  are  made 
active  and  valuable  medicines  by  a  similar  process, 
using  only  sugar,  instead  of  conserve  of  roses,  as  a 
medium  by  which  to  unite  them  with  oxygen. 

The  address  closes  with  deep  regrets  that  he  had  so 
exhausted  the  time  in  these,  to  him,  very  interesting 
^researches  that  he  could  not,  as  he  intended,  bring 
out  his  plan  for  punishing  such  incorrigible  quacks. 
But  whether  it  was  his  design  to  punish  them  for  hook- 
ing his  pediculus  capitis,  or  for  copying  his  placebo 
practice,  he  does  not  inform  us.  One  or  the  other  it 
must  be,  for  neither  he  nor  his  contemporaries  charge 
us  with  any  worse  sins. 

Misrepresentation  of  Homeopathy, 

Neither  does  the  original  exponent  of  Eational  Medi- 
cine in  New  Eilgland  ever  refer  to  homeopathy,  to  my 
knowledge,  without  misrepresenting  it.  In  his  last 
work  on  Eational  Medicine  he  even  charges  us  with 


MISREPRESENTATION  OF  HOMEOPATHY.  237 

being  faithless  to  our  principles.*  He  says  :  \  There 
is  great  reason  to  believe  that  homeopathic  faith  is  not 
always  kept  up  to  its  original  purity  by  its  professors ; 
traces  of  the  occasional  usje  of  very  heroic  medicines  are 
often  detected,"  &c. 

Will  the  doctor  be  kind  enough  to  refer  to  any  article 
of  homeopathic  faith  that  specifies  the  size  or  strength 
of  the  dose  at  all.  The  only  rule  is  to  give  enough  to 
produce  the  effect  desired.  And  now  that  the  doctor  is 
up,  let  me  relieve  his  mind  on  another  point.  He  says, 
on  the  same  page,  "  The  man  must  be  somewhat  of  a 
stoic  who  can  look  upon  a  case  of  severe  colic,  and 
quiet  his  conscience  with  administering  inappreciable 
globules,  instead  of  remedies."  Now,  let  me  tell  my 
kind-hearted  old  friend  and  teacher,  what  I  know  to  be 
true,  after  repeated  experiments,  both  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  of  Bigelow's  Sequel  and  those  of  home- 
opathy, that  a  homeopathic  remedy  will  relieve  the 
severest  colic  in  one  quarter  of  the  time  of  his  own 
most  heroic  opiate ;  often  before  it  could  be  obtained 
from  the  nearest  druggist.  Opium  is  the  slow  coach, 
for  which  we  are  not  willing  to  wait. 

But  is  not  the  dose  which  homeopathic  practitioners 
generally  give  so  ridiculously  small  as  to  justify  the 
definition  given  to  our  system,  by  expositors  of  Rational 
Medicine,  ^^as  a  specious  mode  of  doing  nothing"?  To 
one  accustomed  to  the  use  of  ipecac,  for  example,  in 
twenty  grain  doses,  it  may  seem  impossible  that  the 


*  Expositions  of  Rational  Medicine.   By  Jacob  Bigelow,  M.  D. 


238  THE  HOMEOPATHIC  DOSE. 

♦ 

one  thousandth  part  of  a  grain  of  the  same  article  can 
produce  any  effect.  But  how  is  it  known  that  twenty- 
grains  produce  an  emetic  effect,  but  by  experiment? 
And  experiment  as  clearly  shows  that  the  one  thou- 
sandth part  of  a  grain  of  ipecac  will  as  surely  stop 
vomiting,  when  produced  by  some  other  cause.  And 
how  can  the  Professor  know,  or  any  one  else,  whether 
tlie  ten  thousandth  part  of  a  grain  might  not  also  pro- 
duce an  effect?  Theoretically,  who  shall  decide  whether 
the  crude  article,  third,  or thirtieth  dilution,  is  best 
adapted  to  the  capacity  and  size  of  the  invisible  capil- 
laries in  which  it  must  circulate  and  on  which  it  must 
act,  or  whether  one  dilution  may  not  be  best  adapted 
to  diseases  of  one  tissue,  and  another  to  diseases  of  a 
different  tissue  ? 

We  can  easily  ridicule  the  high  dilutions,  but  who 
shall  settle  that  old  question  of  divisibility,  so  as  to  tell 
us  in  which  dilution,  from  the  third  to  thirtieth,  the 
original  material  has  ceased  to  exist,  or  existing,  is  too 
fine  to  be  adapted  to  the  infinitesimal  vessels  of  which 
the  tissues  are  composed? 

Take,  for  example,  sulphate  of  copper,  one  grain  of 
which  can  be  seen  intermingled  with  every  drop  of  five 
gallons  of  water,  which  may  be  equal  to  the  fifth  dilu- 
tion. Does  it  cease  to  exist  in  the  sixth  dilution,'' be* 
cause  it  cannot  be  seen  ? 


HOMEOPATHY  BY  MISTAKE. 


239 


Old  School  Physicians  prescribe  on  Honieopatliic  Prin- 
ciples without  knowing  it. 

Who  knows  the  nature  of  the  specific  action  of  medi- 
cines, whether  it  may  not  be  increased  by  the  increase 
of  surface  produced  by  each  dilution,  just  as  the  power 
of  electricity  may  be  increased  by  extending  the  surface  ? 
The  action  of  medicine  is  a  mystery  always ;  and  is  it 
profitable  to  ridicule  that  of  which  we  know  nothing  ? 

And  how  do  the  specifics  act  in  the  cure  of  disease  ? 
All  classes  of  practitioners  have  seen  the  hundredth  part 
of  a  grain  of  corrosive  sublimate,  given  in  repeated 
doses,  gradually  change  a  diseased  action  to  a  healthy 
action.  Call  this  an  alterative,  or  call  it  a  homeopathic 
action.  What  is  it?  In  Bigelow's  Sequel  you  are  told, 
"  Alterative  is  a  name  applied  to  substances  which  are 
found  to  produce  a  change  in  the  system  favorable  to 
the  recovery  from  disease."  And  he  gives,  as  exam- 
ples, arsenic,  sulphur,  mercury.  The  same  articles,  it 
will  be  remembered,  which  are  mentioned  by  our  Pro- 
fessor as  the  specifics ;  and  these  articles  are  found  to 
produce  their  effect  in  very  small  doses. 

Here  is  homeopathy  on  a  small  scale.  Three  or  four 
hundred  articles  besides  those  mentioned  by  the  Professor 
and  the  Doctor,  are  also  known  to  homeopathic  practi- 
tioners to  "  produce  a  change  in  the  system  favorable  to 
recovery  from  disease,"  and  their  number  is  constantly 
increasing,  and  the  fair  inference  is,  that  all  other  medi- 
cal substances  are  intended  to  act  in  the  same  way  on 
their  own  appropriate  diseases. 


240        "CURKENTS  AND  COUNTER  CURIIENTS." 


*  But  old  school  practitioners  and  Rational  pro 
fessors  can  see  no  common  sense  in  homeopathy. 

Will  the  Professor's  six  methods  of misapplying  the 
evidence  of  Nature,"  give  us  a  clew  to  the  reason  of 
this  anomaly?    Let  us  see.    He  says,  —  * 

First.  "  There  is  the  natural  incapacity  for  sound  ob- 
servation." "We  see  this  in  many  persons  who  know 
a  good  deal  about  boohs^  but  who  are.  not  sharp-sighted 
enough  to  buy  a  horse  or  deal  with  human  diseases." 
A  truth  that  cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  by  refer- 
ence to  the  treatment  of  typhoid  fever  with  a  hoe. 

Secondly.  "There  is,  in  some  persons,  a  singular 
inability  to  weigh  the  value  of  testimony,  of  which,  I 
think,  from  a  pretty  careful  examination  of  his  books, 
Hahnemann  affords  the  best  specimen  outside  of  the 
walls  of  Bedlam."  That  Hahnemann  is  the  best  speci- 
men outside  of  Bedlam,  we  certainly  cannot  agree,  for 
we  have  seen  a  Professor  who  believes,  from  mere  tra- 
dition, that  a  hoe  will  cure  typhoid  fever,  but  ridicules 
the  testimony  of  hundreds  of  educated  physicians,  that 
belladonna  will  cure  a  sore  throat,  and  aconite  a  fever. 

Thirdly.  "  We  are  led  into  inveterate  logical  errors, 
by  counting  only  favorable  cases."  And  here  the  Pro- 
fessor supplies  an  illustration.  If  an  Indian  chief  gets 
well  of  typhoid  fever  after  hoeing  out  his  mouth,  his 
case  is  reported ;  but  nothing  is  said  of  the  other  poor 
Indians  who  died  in  spite  of  the  scraping. 

Fourthly.  "The  post  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc  error.'' 
"  That  is,  he  got  well  after  taking  medicine,  therefore, 

*  Currents  and  Counter  Currents  in  Medical  Science. 


ALTERATIVE  MEDICINES. 


241 


in  consequence  of  taking  it."  Let  us  look  again  to  the 
same  source  for  illustration.  Massasoit  got  well  after 
scraping  his  tongue,  therefore  the  hoe  saved  his  life, 
"  and  saved  the  colony,  and  thus  rendered  Massachu- 
setts and  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  a  possibil- 
ity."   ^^JPost  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc,^^ 

Lastly.  "A  reason  for  the  golden  tooth,"  —  ^^that  is, 
assuming  a  falsehood  for  a  fact,  and  giving  reasons  for 
it."  This  the  Professor  illustrates  by  the  "  homeopathic 
materia  medica."  But  the  homeopathic  materia  medica 
is  founded  on  proof,  and  nothing  but  proof  admits  a 
single  article,  as  has  been  explained.  But  what  well- 
attested  fact  is  his  own  hoe  theory  founded  on?  In- 
deed, every  practical  physician  knows  the  statement 
that  the  condition  of  the  tongue  does  not  in  the  least 
imply  that  of  the  stomach  "  to  be  untrue. 

Who  practises  Deception  in  Medicine? 

But  suppose  our  system  is  "  a  specious  mode  of  doing 
nothing,"  and  our  Materia  Medica  sugar  of  milk  and 
a  nomenclature,"  are  we  sinners  above  all  others? 
By  their  own  showing  we  carry  out  the  plan  of  Hip- 
pocrates, and  Bigelow,  and  Cotting,  and  the  Professor 
himself;  for  we  certainly  give  Nature  a  fair  chance, 
and  our  "  rules  of  diet  and  nursing  are  excellent,"  Miss 
Nightingale  being  judge  (and  her  authority  will,  of 
course,  be  accepted  by  the  Professor,  who  places  her 
name  next  to  that  of  Hippocrates).  What,  then,  is 
the  offence  for  which  we  are  treated  with  such  con- 
16 


242 


PLACEBO  MEDICINES. 


tempt  by  our  allopathic  brethren?  Why,  we  give 
sugar  of  milk,  and  make  our  patients  think  we  are 
doing  something  for  them.  That  we  use  the  slightest 
deception,  is  not  true ;  but,  if  it  were,  are  we  the  only 
practitioners  who  deceive  patients  with  "  sugar  of  milk 
and  a  nomenclature  "  ? 

Look  at  the  piles  of  prescriptions  put  up  every  day 
by  every  apothecary  in  Boston,  and  remember,  that 
according  to  the  Professor,  you  are  at  the  American 
headquarters  of  the  "  Nature-trusting  "  practice.  How 
many  of  them  contain  anything  more  important  than 
sugar  of  milk,  with,  perhaps,  a  little  coloring  matter? 
And  remember  that  every  prescription  costs  the  patient 
from  twenty-five  to  fifty  cents,  while  our  medicine  costs 
the  patient  nothing;  and  then  ask  Dr.  Howe's  least 
promising  pupil  whether  the  homeopathic  or  the  ra- 
tional practitioner  is  most  amenable  to  the  charge  of 
deceiving  with  placebo  medicines.  And  that  is  all  the 
charge  that  our  worst  enemies  bring  against  us.  By 
this  comparison,  it  will  be  seen  that  I  have  presented 
the  worst  view  of  homeopathy,  and  the  best  view  of 
old  practice. 

For  while  it  is  evident,  as  I  have  shown,  that  one 
class  of  practitioners  is  every  day  practising  deception, 
by  writing  placebo  prescriptions,  to  be  paid  for,  in 
which  they  have  not  themselves  the  slightest  confidence 
(the  only  object  being  to  please  the  patient,  while  Na- 
ture cures  the  disease) ,  another  class  is  doing  infinitely 
worse  —  writing  for  medicines,  to  be  paid  for,  which 
actually  do  very  great  harm.    That  too  much  medicine 


DOCTORS  TAKE  THEIR  OWN  MEDICINE.  243 


is  given,  the  Professor  proves  by  reference  to  the 
undisputed  fact,  that  doctors  and  their  families  take 
little  or  no  medicine,  and,  for  the  inference  from  this 
fact,  he  appeals  to  "  the  least  promising  of  Dr.  Howe's 
pupils.'^ 

And  here,  by  the  way,  I  wish  to  present  to  the 
same  sapient  umpire  a  counter  statement,  equally  true. 
Homeopathic  physicians  and  their  families  do  take  their 
own  medicine,  and  in  precisely  the  same  doses  and  dilu- 
tions as  their  other  patients  take  them.  Apropos  to  the 
charge  of  deception,  I  will  state  a  bit  of  experience. 

For  twenty  years,  up  to  1845,  I  studied  and  prac- 
tised medicine  in  the  confidence  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society;  but,  like  most  of  my  fellows,  I  grad- 
ually lost  confidence  in  medicine,  till  my  practice  was 
as  harmless  as  the  most  perfect  Nature-trusting"  prac- 
titioner of  Boston  or  vicinity ;  but  my  conscience  gave 
me  so  much  trouble  while  practising  the  deception,  ab- 
solutely necessary  in  order  to  retain  my  patients  till 
Nature  cured  the  disease,  that  I  wrote  my  last  placebo 
prescription  in  1845,  resolving  that,  come  what  would, 
I  would  live  in  peace  with  conscience.  Having  thus 
cast  off  the  fear  of  the  Medical  Society,  I  was  enabled 
to  look  at  facts,  all  about  me,  showing  the  truth  and  the 
success  of  homeopathy,  and  the  result  was  an  honest 
adoption  of  its  principles  and  its  practice. 

And  now,  having  no  occasion  for  deception  in  order 
to  retain  my  patients,  and  giving  no  medicine  but  with 
the  honest  purpose  and  expectation  of  curing  disease, 
or  at  least  of  assisting  Nature  in  doing  so,  and  receiv- 


244  DECEPTION  NOT  NECESSARY. 

ing  almost  daily  acknowledgments  of  cure,  where  Na- 
ture and  heroic  remedies  have  all  failed,  I  enjoy  the 
practice  of  medicine  as  I  did  not  think  it  possible  while 
in  old  school  practice.    Triie,  it  is  not  pleasant  to  see 
.such  epithets  as  "Arrant  Quackery,"  "Infinitesimal 
Humbug,"  "Solemn   Farce,"  "Pretended  Science," 
&c.,  applied   to  that   system,  which,  next   to  the 
Christian  religion,  we  esteem  the  best  gift  of  God 
to  man ;  but  when  we  see,  as  in  the  Professor's  ad- 
dress,* these  opprobrious  terms  applied  to  us  in  six 
different  places,  without  one  fact  or  argument  to  show 
their  application,  we  believe,  as  everybody  else  believes, 
that  facts  and  arguments  would  not  be  withheld,  but  for 
the  want  of  them.    And  when  these  very  men,  who 
send  every  day  prescriptions,  to  be  paid  for,  which  they 
know  to  be  worthless,  refuse  to  consult  with  us  in  cases 
of  surgery  or  obstetrics,  where  we  should  not  differ  in 
practice,  making  no  other  charge  against  us  than  that 
we  give  "sugar  of  milk,"  we  can  heartily  join,  with 
our  intelligent  neighbors,  in  the  laugh  at  their  ridicu- 
lous position,  especially  as  they  who  win  are  always 
allowed  to  laugh. 

Professional  Courtesy. 

A  case  of  the  latter  kind  occurred  in  my  own  prac- 
tice, sufficiently  instructive,  not  to  say  amusing,  to 
warrant  a  brief  narration.    A  lady  in  one  of  our  best 
families,  a  favorite  in  a  large  circle  of  friends,  was  in  a 
♦  Currents  and  Counter  Currents  in  Medical  Science. 


MEDICAL  BIGOTKY. 


245 


condition  almost  desperate ;  and  wanting  advice  and 
assistance,  I  recommended  a  friend  of  great  experience 
in  such  cases ;  but  in  the  consternation  of  the  nei^h- 
borhood,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  husband,  each  kind- 
hearted  neighbor  proposed  sending  for  her  doctor,  as 
ail  would  then  be  safe.  One  ran  for  an  old  allopathic 
friend  of  the  family ;  but  he  absolutely  refused  to  go 
to  the  house,  even  to  save  the  life  of  a  daughter  of  an 
old  friend. 

Another  was  hastily  sent  for,  who  happened  to  be  my 
junior  in  the  Harvard  School,  and  my  junior  in  the 
Medical  Society,  Dean  of  the  Faculty,  Professor  of 
Obstetrics,  &c.,  &c.  He  would  go,  as  an  act  of  hu- 
manity, but  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  he  did 
not  consult  with  a  homeopathic  physician.  He  did  go, 
and  walking,  with  solemn  tread,  into  the  chamber,  he 
''whipped  the  devil  around  the  stump,''  by  looking 
straight  at  the  bed-post,  at  which  I  was  standing,  and 
consulting  that,  and  g^iving  to  that  his  advice;  thus 
ingeniously  evading  the  medical  law,  but,  apparently, 
not  quite  satisfying  his  own  conscience,  for  he  went  out 

of  the  house  as  if  the  very  Medical  Society  were 

at  his  heels,  kindly  hinting  that  he  should  be  willing  to 
call  again,  and  do  what  could  be  done  for  the  sufFerino- 
patient,  provided  the  homeopathic  doctor  could  be  dis- 
posed of. 

The  father,  himself  not  a  believer  in  homeopathy, 
indignant  at  the  "solemn  farce,"  said  to  me,  "I  can 
stand  no  more  of  this  nonsense;  do  what  you  think 
best,  get  what  assistance  you  choose,  and  I  will  take 


246  MEDIO Ali  BIGOTRY. 

the  responsibility  ;  "  shrewdly  inquiring  if  these  doctors 
had  not  lost  patients  by  homeopathy.    And  his  intima- 
tion that  the  Medical  Society  was  not  fully  responsible' 
for  all  he  had  seen  and  heard,  was  corroborated  by  the 
fact,  that  another  friend  of  the  family,  a  physician  of 
high  standing,  had  heard  of  no  law  against  consulting 
with  an  educated  physician,  if  he  did  give  sugar  pills 
instead  of  placebo  prescriptions.    The  result  was,  a 
free  and  gentlemanly  attendance  and  assistance,  till, 
by  the  blessing  of  God  on  a  course  of  treatment  quite 
different  from  that  recommended  through  the  bed-post, 
our  patient  recovered. 


THE  CRUSADE  OF  1841. 


247 


THE  CRUSADE  AGAINST  HOMEOPATHY. 

Here  let  us  leave  "  The  Currents  and  Counter  Cur- 
rents in  Medical  Science,"  and,  borrowing  the  motto 
of  another  celebrated  author,  close  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject by  recounting,  very  briefly,  "  The  Happy  Success 
of  the  Valiant  Knight,  and  his  Dreadful  and  Incon- 
ceivable Adventures ;  with  other  Incidents  worthy  to 
be  recorded  by  the  most  able  Historian." 

The  crusade  against  homeopathy  in  New  England  ^ 
was  commenced  in  1841  by  the  same  Professor  whom 
we  have  before  quoted,  and  was  announced  in  these 
words  :  "I  shall  treat  it,  not  by  ridicule,  but  by  argu- 
ment; "  "with  a  firm  belief  that  its  pretensions  and 
assertions  cannot  stand  before  a  single  hour  of  calm 
investigation."  * 

The  address  is  commenced  with  the  acknowledgment 
that  "  The  one  great  doctrine  which  constitutes  the  basis 
of  homeopathy,  as  a  system,  is  expressed  by  the  Latin 
aphorism,  Similia.  similibus  curantur.''  And  yet, 
without  bringing  a  single  argument  against  this  one 
great  doctrine,  he  devotes  the  rest  of  his  lecture  to  a 
mere  effigy,  which  he  makes  up  of  rags  and  shreds  from 
the  mind  of  Hahnemann  in  his  dotage,  which  he  labels 
homeopathy ;  but  which  is  as  unlike  it  as  Don  Quixote's 

*  Homeopathy  and  its  Kindred  Delusions,  page  27. 


248  HOMEOPATHY  DISPOSED  OF. 

windmills  were  unlike  the  giants  for  which  he  mistook 
them. 

In  a  Western  village,  in  1860,  when  Republicanism 
was  carrying  all  before  it,  according  to  the  papers, 
some  sapient  politicians  adopted  a  new  and  safe  way 
of  combatting  it.  They  obtained  some  old  clothes, 
stuffed  them  with  straw,  and  labelling  their  effigy 
"Old  Abe,"  danced  around  it  like  the  Professor's 
typhoid  Indians,  "making  such  a  hellish  noise  as  they 
probably  thought  would  scare  away  the  devil  of"* 
Eepublicanism.  They  finally  pelted  it  with  stones, 
and,  demolishing  it,  seemed  to  think  they  had  put  an 
end  to  Eepublicanism.  So  our  hero,  having  in  less 
than  an  hour  demolished  his  own  effigy  of  Hahnemann, 
seemed  to  think  he  had  kept  his  engagement,  and  de- 
molished homeopathy  past  resuscitation  ;  indeed,  he  was 
so  sure  of  its  death  that  he  gravely  proceeded  to  2:)ost 
mortem  arrangements.  This  part  of  the  service  is 
sufficiently  amusing  to  warrant  a  copy  of  the  programme 
verbatim,  with  a  few  running  commentaries. 

The  Professor  says  :  "  It  only  remains  to  throw  out  a 
few  conjectures  as  to  the  particular  manner  in  which 
it  is  to  break  up  and  disappear." 

"  1.  The  confidence  of  the  few  believers  in  this  delu- 
sion will  never  survive  the  loss  of  friends,  who  may  die 
of  any  acute  disease,  under  a  treatment  such  as  that 
prescribed  by  homeopathy.  It  is  doubtful  how  far 
cases  of  this  kind  will  be  trusted  to  its  mercies ;  but, 


*  Address  of  0.  W.  Holmes,  M.  D.,  May  30,  1860,  page  23. 


HOW  IT  DIES  OUT. 


249 


wherever  it  acquires  any  considerable  foothold,  such 
cases  must  come,  and  with  them  the  ruin  of  those 
who  practise  it,  should  any  highly  valuable  life  be 
thus  sacrificed." 

Well,  twenty-seven  years  have  passed  away  since 
this  terrible  doom  was  assigned  us,  and  ^^we  still  live." 

"  2.  After  its  novelty  has  worn  out,  the  ardent  and 
capricious  individuals  who  constitute  the  most  promi- 
nent class  of  its  patrons  will  return  to  visible  doses, 
were  it  only  for  the  sake  of  a  change." 

As  a  commentary  on  this  prophecy,  I  simply  chal- 
lenge contradiction  to  the  following  statement :  For 
every  family  that  gives  up  homeopathic  for  the  old 
school  practice,  fifty  give  up  old  school  for  homeopathic 
practice. 

"  3.  The  semi-homeopathic  practitioner  will  gradually 
withdraw  from  the  rotten  half  of  his  business,  and  try 
to  make  the  public  forget  his  connection  with  it." 

This  prophecy  has  proved  literally  true ;  but  not  ex- 
actly in  the  manner  intended  by  the  prophet.  Every 
man  of  us  who  began  practising  both  ways  (and  nine 
tenths  of  us  began  that  way),  finding,  by  experience, 
that  homeopathic  practice  is  the  most  reliable,  safe,  and 
expeditious  mode  of  curing  disease,  have  gradually  with- 
drawn from  allopathy,  till,  after  a  very  few  years,  we 
give  up  "i^Ae  rotten  half^^  altogether.  To  this  there 
is  not  a  known  exception. 

"4.  The  ultra  homeopathist  will  either  recant  and 
try  to  rejoin  the  medical  profession,  or  he  will  embrace 
some  newer,  and,  if  possible,  ecjually  extravagant  doc- 


250  FULFILMENT  OF  PROPHECY. 

trine,  or  he  will  stick  to  his  colors,  and  go  down  with 
his  sinking  doctrine.  Very  few  will  pursue  the  course 
last  mentioned." 

When  this  prediction  was  published,  there  were 
probably  in   Massachusetts  seven  or  eight  educated 
homeopathic  physicians,  now  there  are  about  three 
hundred ;  then  there  were  in  the  United  States  proba- 
bly one  hundred,  now  probably  at  least  four  thousand  ; 
then  the  prophet  had  just  reported  homeopathy  in  Paris 
to  be  in  a  "condition  sufficiently  miserable,"  —  to  use 
his  own  words,  — and  going  down,  as  it  was  also,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  authority,  in  England  and  Germany  ; 
now  there  are  in  Paris  probably  two  hundred  educated 
homeopathic  practitioners ;  and  in  every  place  where 
homeopathy  has  obtained  a  foothold  it  has  steadily 
progressed.     Not  a  man  of  all  this  army  of  homeo- 
pathic physicians  has  ever  been  known  to  recant,  and 
not  one  has  embraced  any  newer  doctrine,  extravagant 
or  otherwise,  except  as  an  adjuvant  to  homeopathy. 

Of  its  present  condition  you  can  judge  by  the  follow- 
ing facts  :  Of  the  principal  royal  families  in  Europe  a 
large  majority  are  under  the  care  of  homeopathic  physi- 
cians that  of  the  Emperor  of  France,  and  the  Em- 
peror of  Russia,  and  of  the  Kings  of  Italy,  Prussia, 
Belgium',  Hanover,  Bavaria,  and  Netherlands,  and 
the  Queen  of  Spain,  as  well  as  many  of  the  Austrian 
princes,  and  of  many  of  the  German  states. 

There  are  also  professors  of  homeopathy  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Prague,  of  Zurich,  of  Gallicia,  of  Christiania, 
of  Munich,  of  Belgium,  of  Vienna,  Genoa,  Naples, 


FULFILMENT  OF  PROPHECY.  251 

Padoue,  Eouen,  Boulogne,  Valenza,  Montpellier,  Stras- 
burg,  Trieste,  Madrid,  Co'imbra,  Edinburgh,  St.  An- 
drew's, and  of  many  medical  schools. 

There  are  physicians  practising  homeopathy  in  one 
or  more  hospitals  in  the  cities  of  Vienna,  Berlin,  St. 
Petersburg,  Moscow,  Genoa,  Valencia,  Naples,  Eouen, 
Paris,  Marseilles,  Madrid,  Lisbon,  Plainpalais,  and 
many  other  places ;  and  among  the  people  of  every 
state  or  country  in  Europe  homeopathy  stands  higher 
to-day  than  at  any  other  time  of  its  history.  And  the 
physicians  to  the  families  and  institutions  above  men- 
tioned are  mostly  converts  from  old  school  doctrines, 
embracing  men  of  the  very  highest  order  of  intellect 
and  acquirements. 

Lastly.  "  Not  many  years  can  pass  away  before  the 
same  curiosity  excited  by  one  of  Perkins's  tractors  will 
be  awakened  at  the  sight  of  one  of  the  'infinitesimal 
globules.'"  "If  it  should  claim  a  longer  existence,  it 
can  only  be  by  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  sordid 
wretches  who  wring  their  bread  from  the  cold  graflSp 
of  disease  and  death,  in  the  hovels  of  ignorant  pov- 
erty."   O  my  I 

Twenty-seven  years  ago  pure  globules,  prepared  for 
medication,  were  imported  by  the  pound ;  now  they  are 
made  in  this  country,  and  sold  by  the  hundred,  if  not 
by  the  ton.  And  is  it  from  sordid  wretches,  of  igno- 
rant poverty,  such  as  passed  before  the  seer's  vision, 
that  the  fifty  homeopathic  physicians  are  getting  their 
living  in  Boston?  So  far  from  it  is  the  fact,  that  it  is 
believed  that  nearly  one  half  of  the  wealth  is  in  the 


252  HAHNEMANN'S  GHOST. 

hands  of  homeopathists,  and,  if  we  except  physicians, 
more  than  half  of  the  literary  and  professional  talent. 
And  more  than  twenty-five  years  after  this  lugubrious 
prophecy,  some  of  us  heard  this  same  seer  publicly 
charcring  the  Governor  of  our  Commonwealth  with  be- 
ing guilty  of  placing  his  valuable  life  in  the  hands  of 
homeopathy. 

Hahnemann's  Ghost. 

Thus  ends  the  story  of  the  first  valiant  attack,  in 
which  homeopathy  is  not  only  ignominiously  killed, 
but  shockingly  dismembered.     But  Banquo's  ghost 
never  was  half  so  troublesome  to  poor  Macbeth  as  has 
since  been  the  ghost  of  Hahnemann  to  our  Professor. 
It  not  only  gets  into  his  chair  at  public  dinners,  but 
into  his  medical  chair,  and  at  his  "Breakfast  Table  ;  " 
—  Avherever  he  is,  up  comes  this  phantom  to  plague 
him,  till  we  can  say,  as  the  Salem  Eegister  said  of  the 
phantom  of  old  John  Brown  and  the  Editor  of  the 
Boston  Courier,  We  are  afraid  that  poor  old  Hahne- 
mann, "  who  is  dead  and  gone,  will  yet  be  the  death  of 
him." 

A  New  Crusade. 

Thus,  in  1841,  was  inaugurated  the  crusade  against 
homeop'athy  in  New  England  ;  and  you  have  had  speci- 
mens of  the  "calm  investigations"  (  1  )  before  which  it 
was  to  succumb  in  a  single  hour.  But  homeopathy 
« wouldn't  stay  killed."     And  many  a  time,  in  the 


A  NEW  CRUSADE. 


253 


twenty-seven  years  that  have  since  transpired,  our 
modern  Macbeth  has  probably  said,  in  sadness, — 

The  times  have  been, 
That  when  the  brains  were  out  the  man  would  die, 
And  there  an  end ;  but  now  they  rise  again, 
With  twenty  mortal  murders  on  their  crowns. 
And  push  us  from  our  stools :  This  is  more  strange 
Than  such  a  murder  is." 

Wherever  he  is,  this  phantom  is  at  his  elbow  to  tor- 
ment him.  If  he  sits  as  "  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast 
Table,"  the  goblin  of  Hahnemann  and  ^homeopathy  are 
there;  and  as  boys  whistle  in  going  by  a  graveyard, 
to  show  they  arfe  not  afraid,  so,  to  show  how  little  is 
feared  from  them,  some  joke  is  every  day  cracked  at 
their  expense.  And  then  at  medical  lectures,  —  although 
the  subjects  are  anatomy  and  physiology  —  subjects, 
it  might  be  supposed,  not  particularly  connected  with 
homeopathy, —  still,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  poor 
Hahnemann  must  always  be  dragged  from  his  grave 
to  help  illustrate  them.  Lately,  however,  it  is  said,  he 
is  suffered  to  rest,  as  it  is  not  found  to  be  profitable  to 
put  the  students  to  thinking  about  homeopathy.  They 
are  sure  to  come  out  homeopathists,  and  in  this  way 
the  ranks  of  homeopathic  physicians  have  been  mostly 
supplied. 

It  would  be  amusing  to  give  a  "  history  of  the  cru 
sades  "  against  homeopathy  for  the  last  twenty  years ; 
but,  to  do  the  subject  justice,  it  would  require  the  pen 
of  a  Cervantes.     Having  failed  to  exterminate  it  by 
a  single  hour  of  calm  investigation,"  (  I  )  and  having 


254  A  NEW  CRUSADE, 

foro-otten  his  promise  to  "  treat  it,  not  by  ridicule  but 
bv°ar.umer.t,"  and  for  twenty  years  havmg  apph  d  that 
Lean:  of  trying  to  stop  its  career,  with  mamfest  effect 
Thi  tudentsVite  different  from  his  e.pectat.on  and 
havin.  succeeded  no  better  with  the  dev.ce  o  refusmg 
to  meet  in  consultation  with  old  students,  calhng  them 
LZs,  &c.,  our  Harvard  Professor  found  .t  neces- 
IT  to  call  in  help  to  get  up  a  new  crusade  on  a  new 

''we  have  already  referred  to  the  plan  of  extermina- 
tio^  by  refusing  to  consult  with  us;  but,  that  fadmg 
TLarbeen  n^ot  a  little  amused  at  another  devrce  st 
Tore  ridiculous.    This  plan  was  first  made  puW.  n 
1859,  when,  after  a  year  of  preparation,  the  Berkshire 
Professor  brought  out  his  big  gun.*  . 

After  acknowledging  the  impotence  of  other  per  ecu 
tions,  he  says,  "  I  would  expel  them  as  quacks.  (ihe 
cream  of  th  s  joke  consists  in  the  fact  that  very  few  of 
Tattend  their  meetings  or  take  an  i--t  rn  the.  pro- 
ceedings.  They  can  expel  us  from  the  prxvdege  of  pay 
th^e  dollars  a  year  for  a  dinner  which  we  never  ea  , 
th'atisall.)    But  what  is  a  quack?    An  ignorant  pre- 
end    V    That  won't  do,  for  most  of  them  graduated  at 
our    lleoes,  and  none  of  them  pretend  to  knowledg 
lel  thiy  re  not  willing  to  communicate  to  the  whole 
:«  d.    Well,  a  .definition  must  be  had  that  wdl  h. 
Them      "  The  essence  of  quackery  is,  rgnormg  the 
wisdom  and  guidance  of  the  past,  and  assummg  and- 
wisaom  dii    g  beyond  our  con- 

advertising  to  be  possessed  ot  a  sJaii  o  y 

*  Address  by  Dr.  Timothy  Child,  of  Pittsfield,  May  20,  1859. 


WHAT  IS  A  QUACK? 


255 


temporaries."  But  can't  the  Doctor  see  who  stands  fh 
the  range  of  this  shot  ? 

Our  Professor  so  far  "  ignores  the  wisdom  and  guid- 
ance of  the  past,"  as  to.  propose  to  throw  into  the  sea 
almost  the  entire  Materia  Medica,  which  has  been  accu- 
mulating for  over  two  thousand  years.  And  he  assumes 
and  advertises  a  skill  in  the  cure  of  typhoid  fever,  that 
not  one  of  his  contemporaries  ever  dreamed  of.  And 
Louis  —  a  name  which  the  Doctor  says  he  can't  men- 
tion but  with  profound  respect  —  is  also  a  consummate 
quack,  for  he  ignores  all  wisdom,  past  and  present,  and 
sets  up  a  system  of  his  own  ;  and  Hunter,  Harvey, 
Newton,  Galileo,  and  old  Hippocrates  himself,  are  all 
quacks,  and,  according  to  this  definition,  worse  quacks 
than  Hahnemann  or  any  of  his  disciples. 

"  His  gun,  well  aimed  at  duck  or  plover. 
Bears  wide  and  knocks  its  owner  over." 

After  the  address,  the  Society  met  and  passed  a  vote 
of  thanks  to  Dr.  Timothy  Child,  "for  his  able,  interest- 
^  ing,  and  instructive  address  ;  "  but  not  a  word  is  said 
about  carrying  out  his  suggestions.  They  voted,  how- 
ever, to  appoint  Dr.  Oliver  W.  Holmes  as  orator  for 
the  next  year,  thus  bringing  out  their  most  experienced 
engineer,  to  bring  to  bear  his  biggest  ordnance,  and 
sweep  us  off  forever.  And  this  is  the  origin  of  the 
famous  address  entitled  "Currents  and  Counter  Cur- 
rents in  Medical  Science."  And  when  the  year  came  " 
round,  didn't  we  laugh,  when  instead  of  an  infernal 
machine,"  to  scatter  us  to  the  four  winds,  all  we  got 


256  *        WHAT  IS  A  QUACK? 

^as  a  few  squib.,  and  they  mostly  aimed  the  Pro, 
feasor's  own  little  ",=di.cular"  effigy,  while  a  b.g  bomb- 
shell  was  thrown  into  his  own  camp,  to  blow  them  all 

sky  hio'^h  !  . 

EatLal  Medicine  was  of  course  incensed  at  being 
thus  shown  up,  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society,  held  as  usual  on  the  day  of  the  annual 
address,  for  the  purpose  of  voting  to  print  it,  an  excit- 
i„.  discussion  occurred  as  to  the  expediency  of  publish- 
in:  sentiments  so  adapted  to  undermine  the  confidence 
of°the  public  in  their  mode  of  practice;  but  its  publi- 
cation  was  finally  determined  on,  upon  the  ground  tha 
suppressing  the  truth  was  more  dangerous  than  the 

truth  itself.  •  u-  T 

The  last  act  in  this  interesting  drama,  to  which  1 

shall  refer,  relates  to 

The  City  Hospital  in  Boston. 

In  1864  a  Hospital  was  opened  for  the  benefit  of  that 
class  of  people  who,  when  well,  are  able  to  provide 
themselves,  but  when  sick,  are  destitute,  and  dependent 
on  others.    It  is  supported  by  taxation,  and  of  course 
all  holders  of  .property  share  alike  in  its  burdens  Be- 
fore  it  was  opened,  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  trus 

es,  signed  by  eight  hundred  of  our  most  influential 
tax-payers,  embracing  senators,  members  of  congress 

ithLlasses  of  our  most  intelligent  and  influential  citi- 
zens,  in  the  following  words  :  — 


THE  CITY  HOSPITAL. 


257 


''The  undersigned,  citizens  of  Boston,  respectfully 
represent,  that  while  a  large  part  of  our  intelligent  in- 
habitants believe  that  the  homeopathic  method  of  curino* 
diseases  is  the  safest,  quickest,  and  most  reliable,  and 
therefore  employ  no  other  in  their  families,  there  is  not 
in  Boston  a  place  where  the  stranger  and  the  homeless 
can  enjoy  its  advantages.  We  therefore  request  that  a 
part  of  the  City  Hospital  may  be  devoted  to  the  prac- 
tice of  homeopathy,  under  regulations  which  shall  se- 
cure the  same  privileges  as  other  patients  enjoy." 

Of  these  petitioners,  the  large  majority  were  gentle- 
men known  to  be  believers  of  homeopathy,  and  to  prac- 
tise it  exclusively  in  their  families  ;  but  to  test  public 
sentiment,  an  application  for  signatures  was  made  to 
two  hundred  in  one  ward,  and  one  hundred  in  another, 
of  the  principal  citizens,  by  individuals  ignorant  of  their 
opinions  on  the  subject;  and  of  these  three  hundred 
voters,  only  six  refused  to  sign,  and  they  only  on  the 
ground  of  personal  relations  to  old  school  doctors. 

And  instead  of  eight  hundred  signatures,  there  might 
have  been  obtained  those  of  all  the  respectable  citizens  in 
Boston,  except  the  old  school  doctors  and  a  few  of  their 
personal  friends  —  all  seeing  and  acknowledging  the 
justice  of  the  request. 

With  this  petition  Was  presented  a  memorial,  showing 
by  statistics,  facts,  and  arguments,  the  claims  of  home- 
opathy to  the  confidence  of  the  community.  It  was 
kindly  received  by  the  trustees,  and  its  claims  fully  dis- 
cussed ;  and,  not  one  of  them  being  controverted,  and 
all  the  principal  newspapers,  as  well  as  every  influential, 
17 


258  '^HE  CITY  HOSPITAL. 

Citizen,  acknowled-ing  their  justice,  they  gave  us  assur- 
ance, as  far  as  individual  opinion  could  go,  that  our  re- 
quest would  be  granted. 

'  But  when  appointments  of  physicians  came  to  be 
made,  it  was  found  that  the  old  school  physicians  had 
clubbed  together  to  keep  out  homeopathists,  and  had 
resolved  that  they  would  accept  of  no  appointment  if  any 
homeopathists  should  be  appointed,  even  though  they 
mi-ht  be  graduates  with  them,  at  their  own  medical 
school;  thus  driving  the  trustees  to  the  alternative  of 
excluding  homeopathists,  or  giving  up  the  establishment 
to  them  exclusively.    And  the  result  is,  that  homeopa- 
thists, who  pay  nearly  if  not  quite  half  the  expenses 
are  expelled  from  the  hospital,  or,  what  is  worse,  it 
they  go  there,  are  obliged  to  take  crude  drugs  which 
they  heartily  abhor;  and  whether  they  take  them  or 
not,  are  obliged  to  pay  thousands  of  dollars  every  year 
for  dru-s,  spirits,  beers,  and  hospital  stores,  ninety  per 
cent,  of  which  they  religiously  believe  are  worse  than 
useless  • 

When  the  medical  spirit  that  thus  sacrifices  the  inter- 
ests of  our  best  citizens  to  the  hatred  of  fellow-gradu- 
ates of  the  same  school,  for  no  other  reason  than  that, 
followino-  the  dictates  of  reason  and  conscience,  they 
have  adopted  a  system  of  cure  vastly  superior  to  their 
own,  shall  be  looked  upon  by  the  medical  light  of  th^ 
twentieth  century,  as  we  now  look  back  on  the  religious 
bi<.otry  that  whipped  Quakers  and  banished  Baptists 
by  the  religious  light  of  the  nineteenth,  this  item  of 
history  may  be  interesting. 


REPORT  OF  DR.  LAWRENCE. 


259 


I  therefore  make  a  record  of  the  ingenious  way  by 
which,  without  controverting  a  statement,  or  answering 
an  argument  of  the  petitioners,  through  their  Doctor 
on  the  Board  they  contrive  to  take  possession  of  the 
hospital,  and  exclude  other  doctors  who  were  educated 
with  them.  And,  that  I  may  not  misrepresent  them,  I 
give  the  report  of  the  Doctor  on  the  subject  verbatim. 

"The  undersigned,  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject 
of  the  introduction  of  Homeopathic  Medical  Practice 
into  the  City  Hospital,  have  examined  with  care  the 
various  documents  submitted  to  them.  These  docu- 
ments consist  of — 

"1.  A  petition  signed  by  eight  hundred  citizens  of 
Boston,  accompanied  by  a  Memorial,  containing  argu- 
ments and  statistics,  by  Albert  J.  Bellows,  M.  D. 

"2.  A  letter  from  the  same  gentleman,  dated  Janu- 
ary 12,  1864. 

"3.  A  communication  from  the  Boston  Academy  of 
Homeopathic  Medicine,  dated  May  27,  1863. 

"4.  A  letter  signed  by  seven  physicians  of  the 
Homeopathic  Medical  Dispensary. 

"5.  A  communication  from  J.  T.  Talbot,  M.  D., 
dated  June  1,  1863. 

"In  document  No.  1  the  petitioners  ask  that  'a  part 
of  the  City  Hospital  may  be  devoted  to  the  practice  of 
homeopathy,  under  regulations  which  shall  secure  the 
same  privileges  as  other  patients  enjoy.' 

"In  No.  2  the  same  request  is  made,  and  the  writer 


260  REPORT  OF  DR.  LAWRENCE. 

asks  that  he  may  be  appointed  Medical  Director  and 
Attending  Physician  to  that  department,  'accordmg  to 
the  nomination  of  the  Boston  Academy,  composed  of 
about  forty  physicians,  all  of  whom  are  regularly 
educated,  and  most  of  them  graduates  of  allopathic 
colleges.' 

« Document  No.  3  contains  the  proceedings  of  a 
meeting  of  the  Boston  Academy  of  Homeopathic  Medi- 
cine, at  which  the  following  conclusions  were  unani- 
mously decided  upon,  namely:  — 

«'In  order  to  give  homeopathic  science  a  just  trial, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  place  the  department  under 
the  medical  direction  of  some  member  of  our  branch 
of  the  profession,  who  has  the  confidence  of  his  fellows 
as  being  capable  of  doing  justice  to  such  a  responsible 
station;  and  that,  independently  of  all  other  medical 
influence,  he  should  have  charge  of  the  preparation  of 
medicines,  the  charge  of  the  nurses,  and  of  everythmg 
else  pertaining  to  the  treatment  of  patients  m  his  de- 
partment ;  and  that,  in  order  to  accomplish  this  success- 
fully, he  must  reside  in  the  hospital. 

"'They  also  recommend  the  appointment  of  a  Board  of 
Visiting  Physicians,  including,  at  least,  one  competent 
and  experienced  surgeon,  who  have  confidence  in  the 
medical  director  and  each  other.'  A  committee  of  three 
was  appointed  to  nominate  such  a  board  to  be  recommend- 
ed to  the  Hospital.  It  was  also  voted  unanimously  '  that 
we  recommend  the  appointment  of  Albert  J.  Bellows, 
M.  D.,  as  Medical  Director  and  Attending  Physician 
of  the  Homeopathic  Department  of  the  Free  City  Hos- 
pital, under  such  arrangements  as  shall  be  satisfactory 


REPORT  OF  DR.  LAWRENCE. 


261 


to  him,  and  shall  secure  to  such  patients  as  shall  prefer 
our  method  of  treatment  the  benefit  of  humane  and 
careful  attendance,  and  the  scientific  administration  of 
curative  agents,' 

''Paper  No.  4  is  signed  by  seven  gentlemen,  physi- 
^cians  of  the  Homeopathic  Medical  Dispensary,  and 
dwells  upon  the  benefits  derived  by  certain  classes  by 
the  establishment  of  a  City  Hospital,  and  requests  that 
the  classes  alluded  to  may  be  allowed  the  privilege  of 
placing  themselves  therein  under  homeopathic  treatment. 

"No.  5  is  a  communication  from  a  medical  practi- 
tioner upon  the  feasibility  of  introducing  the  system  of 
homeopathic  treatment  into  the  new  City  Hospital.  It 
quotes  instances,  from  personal  observation  during  the 
years  1853-1854,  where  the  two  systems  of  treatment 
had  been  successfully  introduced  under  the  same  man- 
agement, or  into  the  same  building.  Such  instances 
were  witnessed  by  the  writer  at  Bremen,  at  Linz,  at 
Vienna,  and  at  the  Hospitals  of  Saint  Marguerite  and 
Beaujou  in  Paris. 

"The  Board  of  Trustees  have,  during  the  past  year, 
granted  hearings  to  parties  representing  different  opin- 
ions in  regard  to  the  subject  contained  in  the  documents 
above  referred  to,  and  are  therefore  equally  well  in- 
formed with  the  Committee  as  to  the  various  arguments 
in  the  case. 

"Your  Committee  do  not  feel  that  you  have  intrusted 
them  with  the  duty  of  deciding  upon  the  merits  of  the 
two  modes  of  medical  treatment  which  it  is  proposed 
to  introduce  into  the  hospital;  nor  would  they  feel 
competent  to  such  a  task,  had  the  duty  been  assigned 


262  REPORT  OF  DR.  LAWRENCE. 

them.     They  have  endeavored,  in  their  inquiries,  to 
confine  themselves  to  the  simple,  practical  question, 
whether  the  admission  to  the  Hospital  of  two  opposing 
modes  of  treatment,  and  two  classes  of  practitioners, 
would  conduce  to  the  prosperity  of  the  institution  or 
the  welfare  of  its  inmates.    On  the  score  of  humanity,  ^ 
it  would  seem  most  desirable  that  each  beneficiary  of 
this  noble  charity  should  be  followed  to  its  wards,  and 
receive  the  care  of  the  physicians  of  his  choice,  whether 
he  were  a  believer  in  the  homeopathic,  the  hydropathic, 
the  botanic,  or  the  spiritual  system  of  medical  treat- 
ment.   Each  has  its  numerous  advocates  and  practi- 
tioners ;  and  if  one  be  admitted  without  reference  to 
any  standard,  could   the  others  be  consistently  ex- 
cluded ? 

"We  do  not  doubt  the  intelligence  of  the  class  of 
patients  for  whose  benefit  the  Hospital  has  been  estab- 
lished.   They  are  not  to  be  the  paupers  of  the  city, 
but  persons  who  can,  in  health,  support  themselves  by 
their  own  industry.    How  many  of  them  when  taken 
sick  would,  if  left  to  themselves,  think  of  the  method 
of  treatment  to  which  they  would  be  subjected?  We 
think  there  would  be  very  few.    They  would  submit 
themselves,  with  readiness,  to  the  kind  attentions  and 
skill  of  those  who  command  the  confidence  of  a  vast 
majority  in  the  community,  and  who  worthily  represent 
'  the  medical  profession,  in  all  its  progress  and  advance- 
ment, as  it  has  existed  for  many  centuries. 

"  It  can  readily  be  seen  what  effect  would  be  pro- 
duced upon  the  management  and  discipline  of  the 
institution,  should  there  be  an  indiscriminate  admis- 


REPORT  OF  DR.  LAWRENCE. 


263 


i?ion  of  practitioners  who  would  owe  no  responsibility 
to  the  trastees,  and  who  could  not  be  subjected  to 
their  control.  If  an  exception  should  now  be  made 
in  favor  of  the  petitioners,  we  cannot  see,  with  the 
present  disposition  of  the  buildings,  how  such  an  ar- 
rangement »would  be  carried  out. 

"  So  far  as  we  can  learn,  the  instances  quoted  of 
similar  arrangements  in  Europe  would  not  afford  en- 
couragement for  the  experiment  here.  The  hospital 
at  Vienna,  we  are  informed  by  a  gentleman  who  visited 
that  city  within  a  few  months,  is  a  small  establishment, 
entirely  distinct,  and  in  a  remote  part  of  the  city. 
Government  in  Austria  assumes  the  control  of  almost 
every  institution,  and  it  is,  therefore,  under  the  same 
management  as  the  Grand  Hospital,  containing  two 
thousand  six  hundred  beds,  in  another  part  of  the 
city.  It  is  patronized  principally  by  a  few  wealthy 
persons  in  the  community. 

"The  hospital  at  Linz  is  also  a  distinctly  homeopathic 
institution.  The  hospital  at  Bremen,  at  least  that  part 
devoted  to  the  homeopathic  treatment,  has  been  discon- 
tinued. Of  the  Saint  Marguerite,  at  Paris,  we  have 
no  definite  information.  Our  informant  visited  the 
Beaujou  very  recently,  but  neither  saw  nor  heard 
anything  of  the  arrangement  which  existed  in  1854. 
Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  the  fact  mentioned  in 
document  No.  5,  above  quoted,  of  the  remonstrance 
to* the  director-general  by  other  physicians,  on  account 
of  the  innovations,  proves  that  the  plan  did  not  tend  to 
harmony  in  management. 


264  REPORT  OF  DR.  LAWRENCE. 

"Your  petitioners  affirm,  in  document  No.  3,  'that, 
in  order  to  give  homeopathic  science  a  just  trial,  a 
medical  director  should  have  exclusive  control  of  the 
ward  assigned  to  them,  and  should  reside  in  the  Hos- 
pital.' It  can  easily  be  seen  what  would  be  the  result 
of  such  a  plan,  when  we  remember  that,  by  Section  4 
of  the  City  Ordinance,  creating  the  Hospital,  it  is  pro- 
vided that  the  superintendent  'shall  have,  under  the 
trustees,  the  control  of  all  departments  of  the  Hospital ; 
of  all  subordinate  officers,  attendants,  domestics  ;  of  the 
patients  ;  and  the  charge  of  the  grounds,  buildings,  and 
appurtenances.' 

"With  the  present  limited  number  of  buildings  at 
our  disposal,  and  the  divisions  made  necessary  for  the 
accommodation  of  male  and  female  medical  and  surgi- 
cal patients,  your  Committee  can  see  no  way  by  which 
the  wishes  of  the  very  respectable  body  of  petitioners 
can  be  complied  with;  and  they  have,  furthermore, 
sufficient  faith  in  their  intelligence  to  believe  that,  when 
all  the  facts  stated  are  reviewed,  they  will  see  the  im- 
practicability of  the  plan  which  they  have  proposed. 
For  the  still  more  potent  reason  that  such  a  scheme 
would  be  fatal  to  the  harmony  necessary  to  the  full 
success  and  usefulness  of  the  new  Hospital,  they  rec- 
ommend that  no  departure  be  made  from  the  rules 
which  prevail  on  this  subject  in  other  kindred  insti- 
tutions. 

(Signed)       Wm.  E.  Lawrence,! 

SuiviNER  Crosby,  j 

Boston,  Jan.  23,  1864:." 


REVIEW  OF  REPORT. 


265 


The  Report 5  it  will  be  seen,  is  mostly  occupied  with 
a  communication  from  the  Boston  Academy  of  Home- 
opathic Medicine,  dated  May  27,  1863,  suggesting 
the  necessity  of  having  a  resident  homeopathic  physi- 
cian, &c. 

These  suggestions  were  made  under  the  impression, 
received  from  the  Chairman  of  the  Board,  that  a  resi- 
dent old  school  physician  would  be  appointed.  And  I 
only  consented  to  think  of  accepting  their  nomination, 
and  go  into  the  Hospital,  if  elected,  upon  condition  that 
it  should  prove  to  be  the  only  way  in  which  to  accom- 
plish an  object  worthy  of  such  a  sacrifice. 

But  when  the  application  was  made,  knowing  the 
plan  of  having  a  resident  physician  had  been  aban- 
doned, and  expecting  the  subject  would  be  committed 
to  one  desirous  of  trying  to  make  it  practicable  to  grant 
our  petition,  — that  being  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of 
the  members,  — I  simply  suggested  that  the  request  of 
the  Academy  should  be  so  modified  as  to  make  it  prac- 
ticable under  existing  circumstances.  The  subject  was, 
however,  called  up  by,  and  of  course  committed  to  a 
physician,  who,  very  naturally,  favored  the  wishes  of 
his  old  school  brethren ;  and,  ignoring  my  suggestion 
for  modification,  he  devoted  most  of  his  Eeport  to  the 
pi  oof  that  the  suggestions  of  the  Academy  were  in- 
consistent with  the  arrangements  of  the  Hospital,  and 
impracticable,  and  therefore  he  could  see  no  way  by 
which  the  wishes  of  the  very  respectable  body  of  peti- 
tioners can  be  complied  with." 

The  Report  proves,  I  acknowledge,  conclusively,  that 


266 


REVIEW  OF  REPORT. 


it  was  inconsistent  to  grant  the  petitioners  what  they 
did  not  desire  to  have,  and  that  question  v/as  settled. 
And  I  asked  the  Board  to  consider  whether  it  proved 
it  to  bo  inconsistent,  or  impracticable,  to  grant  us  what 
we  did  want^  under  the  arrangements  then  made. 
What  we  really  did  desire,  was  simply  this  :  that  the 
superintendent  be  authorized  to  furnish  accommodations, 
at  his  own  discretion,  for  such  patients  as  preferred 
homeopathic  treatment,  and  that,  under  their  rules  and 
ordinances,  and  subject  to  all  of  them,  they  should 
appoint  such  medical  attendance  for  them  as  was  neces- 
sary to  give  them  appropriate  homeopathic  treatment ; 
but  that  they  should  appoint  no  one  who  could  not  come 
in  under  the  same  standard  as  that  under  which  their 
other  appointments  were  made. 

The  very  statement  of  this  question  knocked  out  the 
principal  pillars  on  which  the  conclusion  rested,  that  our 
petition  should  not  be  granted.  The  argument,  as  seen 
by  the  Doctor's  report,  is  thus  stated :  "  The  homeo- 
pathic, the  hydropathic,  the  botanic,  and  the  spiritual 
systems  of  medical  treatment,  each  has  its  numerous 
advocates  and  practitioners,  and  if  one  be  admitted, 
without  reference  to  any  standard,  could  the  others  be 
consistently  excluded?"  But  we  claimed  to  come  in 
under  their  own  standard.  What  was  the  standard  by 
which  they  appointed  the  Board  of  Physicians  already 
chosen?  Had  they  all  a  diploma  from  some  accredited 
medical  college?  So  had  we,  and  mostly  from  the  very 
same.  If  that  was  not  the  standard,  it  would  not  be 
easy  to  name  one  that  could  admit  all  the  physicians 


COMPARISON  OF  SYSTEMS. 


267 


already  chosen  and  exclude  us.  Did  we  differ  from 
them  in  mode  of  practice  ?  So  did  they  differ  from  one 
another.    Let  us  illustrate  :  — 

Three  patients  are  sick  alike.  One  wants  a  doctor 
who  will  do  something,  and  they  have  for  him  the 
heroic  practitioner,  who  would  bleed  him,  and  blister 
him,  and  torment  him  generally,  to  his  full  satisfaction. 
The  second  preferred  to  dispense  with  such  luxuries, 
and  they  had  for  him  the  expectant  practitioner,  who 
would  carefully  see  to  his  nursing  and  diet,  and  the  air 
he  breathes,  &c.,  but  would  give  him  no  medicine. 
The  third  would  like  a  treatment  exactly  like  the  sec- 
ond, but  would  like,  in  addition,  some  homeopathic 
globules,  and  asked  for  a  doctor  who  graduated  with 
the  other  two,  and  agreed  with  both  in  regard  to  gen- 
eral management,  diet,  &c.,  and  differed  from  the  sec- 
ond only  in  what  relates  to  the  homeopathic  globules. 

They  appoint  the  two  first-mentioned  practitioners, 
but  when  the  third  is  nominated,  "a  horrid  spectre  rises 
to  their  sight,  close  by  their  side,  and  plain  and  palpa- 
ble," threatening  to  slip  in ;  and  lest  it  might  succeed, 
they  shut  the  door  on  goblin  and  doctor  together. 

But  was  it  fair  or  just  to  shut  out,  among  the  quacks, 
that  doctor  who  had  not  the  slightest  aflSnity  for  them, 
while  those  were  admitted  whose  therapeutics  are,  by 
their  own  admission,  very  nearly  allied  to  theirs? 

I  will  quote  the  opinions  on  this  subject  of  some  of 
the  most  learned  men  in  the  world.  Professor  Brous- 
sais,  who  is  styled  the  illustrious  Professor  of  Val  de 
Grace,  says,  "I  agree  that  medicine  has  rendered  to 


268 


OPINIONS  OF  LEARNED  MEN. 


suffering  man  the  service  of  offering  him  consolations, 
by  ever  fostering  chimerical  hopes ;  but  sUch  service  is 
far  from  placing  it  on  a  level  with  other  natural  sci- 
ences. It  rather  seems  to  class  it  with  astrology,  super- 
stition, and  all  kinds  of  quackery."  Professor  Magendie, 
whose  writings  are  in  the  libraries  of  all  respectable 
physicians,  says,  "It  is  especially  where  medicine  is 
most  active  that  mortality  is  greatest."  And  the  learned 
Professor  of  Harvard  Medical  College,  whose  advice  was 
had  on  the  question  of  admitting  homeopathy,  says, 
''The  truth  is,  that  medicine,  professedly  founded  on 
observation,  is  as  sensitive  to  outside  influences,  polit- 
ical, religious,  philosophical,  and  imaginary,  as  is  the 
barometer  to  atmospheric  density." 

The  most  celebrated  physicians  and  professors  in  the 
hospitals  in  Paris  —  Valleix,  Fodera,  Bichat,  Eostan, 
Louis,  Chomel,  Bouchardat,  and  Calvi — have  all  ex- 
pressed similar  sentiments  respecting  the  absolute  worth- 
lessness  of  the  allopathic  systems  of  materia  medica. 
While  on  the  other  hand,  men  equally  learned  agree 
that  the  system  of  homeopathic  therapeutics  is  founded 
on  an  immutable  law  of  Nature. 

Marchal  de  Calvi,  the  learned  professor  already  men- 
tioned, says,  "  There  is  nothing  satisfactory  in  teaching 
materia  medica  according  to  the  approved  system." 
"All  we  know  of  any  value  about  it,  we  owe  to  the 
works  of  homeopathists."  "In  the  works  of  physi- 
cians of  the  lawful  school,  from  Hippocrates  down- 
ward to  our  times,  we  find  absolutely  nothing." 

Professor  Gourboyer  says,  "All  researches  of  scholars 


COMPARISON  OF  SYSTEMS. 


269 


confirm  on  every  point  the  therapeutical  truths  taught 
by  Hahnemann."  "The  more  I  study  the  works  of 
different  schools,  the  more  I  am  astonished  at  the  con- 
clusions in  favor  of  homeopathy."  "I  challenge  all 
honest  and  intelligent  physicians,  who  will  faithfully 
examine  all  systems  and  works  of  materia  medica^  to 
arrive  at  a  different  conclusion."  Scores  of  other  men, 
equally  learned,  will  give  similar  testimony,  corroborat- 
ing these  statements;  and  yet  the  Report  persists  in 
consigning  us  to  the  company  of  quacks  outside  their 
institution,  while  those  thus  proved  to  be  more  alliecj 
to  them  are  admitted,  and  our  patients  are  expected  to 
submit  to  their  treatment  without  a  question.  In  what 
respect  do  we  not  "represent  the  medical  profession  in 
all  its  progress  and  advancement  as  it  has  existed  for 
many  centuries,"  according  to  their  own  standard? 

But  the  most  potent  reason  for  rejecting  our  petition 
is,  that  "  it  would  be  fatal  to  the  harmony  necessary  to 
the  full  success  and  usefulness  of  the  new  Hospital." 
And  how  was  this  terrible  evil  to  be  produced  by  the 
introduction  of  homeopathy?  Two  classes  of  regular 
physicians  were  already  appointed,  as  we  have  seen,  so 
that  it  would  follow  that  while  one  patient  was  bled, 
and  blistered,  and  took  blue  pill,  another,  with  the 
same  disease,  might  be  permitted  to  die  a  natural 
death,  or  get  well  with  good  nursing,  without  med- 
icine. 

Now  the  innovation  we  proposed  to  make,  was  to 
add  to  the  treatment  of  the  expectant  patient  perhaps 
the  millionth  ( f  a  grain  of  aconite  every  hour  or  two, 


270 


CONTESTS  OF  DOCTORS. 


or  something  else  equally  formidable ;  and  this  was  the 
enemy  that  would  be  fatal  to  the  harmony  of  the  Insti- 
tution. The  contest  then  was  between  the  old  school 
doctors  and  the  infinitesimal  globule  which  they  so 
affected  to  despise. 

The  next  reason  for  rejecting  our  petition  was,  that 
so  far  as  the  committee  could  see,  "the  instances  quoted 
of  similar  arrangements  in  Europe  would  not  afford  en- 
couragement for  the  experiment  here." 

When  that  sentence  was  written,  there  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  committee  our  Memorial,  and  two  pam- 
phlets corroborating  it,  referring  to  more  than  a  score 
of  hospitals  in  which  homeopathy  had  been  successfully 
and  harmoniously  tried  in  connection  with  old  school 
practice,  or  under  the  same  control. 

In  this  Memorial  it  was  also  asserted  and  proved  that 
old  school  practitioners  and  homeopathists  differ  only  in 
the  administration  of  medicine,  and  in  that  even  differ 
less  from  some  of  them  than  they  differ  from  each  other, 
and  that,  therefore,  nothing  would  prevent  harmony  but 
the  opposition  of  these  physicians  ;  and  this  had  always 
proved  to  be  the  truth. 

We  also  stated,  and  proved  by  statistics,  that  home- 
opathy saves  fifty  per  cent,  more  of  life  than  the  other 
school ;  that  it  saves  more  than  one  quarter,  of  the  time, 
and  therefore  of  the  expenses,  of  the  patients  ;  that  it 
saves  the  terrible  sufferings  from  lancets,  blisters,  caus- 
tics, and  poisonous  drugs,  and  the  diseases  entailed  by 
them  ;  and  these  facts  and  statements,  and  many  more, 
had  been  presented  to  the  Professor  of  Harvard  Medical 


CONTESTS  OF  DOCTORS. 


271 


School,  who  for  twenty-seven  years  had  made  home- 
opathy his  specialty,  with  the  request  that,  after  care- 
fully considering  them,  he  would  go  before  the  trustees 
and  point  out  their  errors  and  defects,  if  such  could  be 
found. 

For  a  fortnight  the  learned  Professor  did  give  special 
attention  to  the  subject,  as  his  students  testify,  as  also 
to  the  fact  that  in  his  researches  for  the  cause  and  cure 
of  homeopathy,  and  .the  reason  for  failure  in  his  former 
attempts  to  rid  medical  science  of  this  its  direst  pest,  he 
had  discovered  that  all  this  time  he  had  mistaken  its 
entomological  character,  classing  it  with  humbugs,  when 
in  fact  it  belonged  to  a  very  difFerent  class  of  vermin. 

The  important  discovery  was  not  divulged  to  his 
class  till  the  very  day  on  which  he  was  to  administer 
his  exterminating  enema,  and  then  in  these  words: 
"  These  pestilent  homeopathists  give  me  immense 
trouble."  "They  are  the  Ascarides  in  the  rectum  of 
medical  science."  "And  I  have  an  appointment  to 
meet  the  Trustees  of  the  new  Hospital,  and  help  ex- 
pel them." 

He  did  meet  with  them,  and  passed  three  or  four 
hours ;  and  his  attention  was  frequently  called  to  the 
statements  and  statistics  of  the  Memorial;  but  he 
neither  corrected  nor  disputed  a  single  one  of  them. 
Now,  if  there  had  been  misstatements,  or  errors  of 
statistics,. it  is  certain  that  he  would  have  made  an 
enema  of  them  like  a  "clyster  of  fish-hooks,"  if  I  may 
be  allowed  to  carry  out  the  classical  and  poetical  figure 
of  this  celebrated  author  and  poet.    Think  you  that. 


272 


A  MEMORLVL. 


with  such  means  of  exterminating  us,  he  would  have 
spent  three  precious  hours  in  descanting  on  such  sub- 
jects as  the  appropriate  homeopathic  remedies  for 
sneezing  and  hiccough,  or  portraying  the  evils  that 
would  come  from  tying  cats'  tails  together,  and  throw- 
ins:  them  over  a  clothes-line? 

All  the  statements  in  the  Memorial,  then,  were  true ; 
and  yet,  ignoring  all  this  proof  to  the  contrary,  the 
Doctor  takes  a  single  statement  ,  from  another  docu- 
.  ment,  that  at  one  time  certain  physicians  petitioned 
the  governor-general  of  the  hospitals  in  Paris  to  have 
the  homeopathic  doctor  removed ;  and  makes  that  prove 
that  "  such  arrangements  do  not  tend  to  harmony,"  and 
there  "  is  no  encouragement  for  the  experiment  here." 

As  this  is  all  the  proof  he  offers,  let  us  examine 
the  case,  and  see  how  much  it  proves.  The  facts  are 
these  :  — 

In  1849,  M.  Tessier,  by  virtue  of  his  superior  abili- 
ties and  acquirements,  and  not  as  a  homeopathist,  was 
assigned  a  ward  in  Saint  Marguerite  Hospital,  in  Paris. 
He  believed  in  homeopathy,  and  therefore  practised  it. 
In  1851  it  came  to  be  known  that  the  mortality,  length 
of  disease,  and  expense  in  his  ward  were  much  less  than 
in  the  other  wards.  This  fact  excited  among  the  doc- 
tors of  the  baser  sort  a  spirit  of  jealousy,  and  they 
circulated  slanders  against  him,  and  grossly  misrepre- 
sented the  results  of  his  practice,  and  even  tried  to 
counteract  the  effects  of  his  medicine  by  fumigation, 
&c.,  and  finally  raised  a  committee  to  report  to  the 
governor-general  that  homeopathy  diii  not   tend  to 


A  FRENCH  EXPERIIVIENT. 


273 


harmony  —  was  a  total  failure,  &c.,  and  that  Dr. 
Tessier  ought  to  be  removed.  The  governor-general, 
seeing  through  the  plot,  ^ent  the  slanderers  to  their 
own  place  in  the  dark;  and  Tessier  remained  there, 
and  in  the  Beaujou,  under  the  same  control,  for  thirteen 
years,  till  1862,  when  he  died,  having  established  the 
claims  of  homeopathy  in  the  minds  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent people  of  Pari^  beyond  a  doubt.  And,  though  he 
suffered  much  from  the  slanders  of  the  lowest  order  of 
physicians,  up  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  had  the  confi- 
dence and  friendship  of  the  most  learned  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  for  the  last  year  of  his  life  was  physician  to 
the  Empress  Eugenie.  And  this  is  the  case  about 
which,  after  diligent  search,  nothing  could  be  found, 
but  which  proves  to  the  mind  of  the  Committee  that, 
at  any  rate,  "the  plan  did  not  tend  to  harmony." 

They  did  find,  however,  two  small  hospitals  in 
Austria,  and  also  learned  that  the  one  at  Bremen 
had  been  given  up,  leaving  on  your  minds,  whether 
intentional  or  not,  the  impression  that  homeopathy  in 
Europe  is  confined  to  two  or  three  small  establishments, 
and  that  even  in  them  it  is  dying  out. 

That  this  impression  was  wrong,  we  have  seen  by 
statistics  already  given;  and  as  for  the  harmony,  it 
was  true  that  up  to  1853  or  1854,  in  one  sense,  the 
introduction  of  homeopathy  into  a  hospital  or  college 
did  not  tend  to  harmony  —  that  is,  allopathic  physicians 
made  such  a  fuss  as  to  cause  great  disturbance,  and, 
in  some  instances,  to  succeed  in  driving  off  the  non- 
combative  homeopathist ;  but  in  no  other  way  has  bar- 


274  THE  ROOMS  IN  THE  HOSPITAL. 

mony  ever  been  disturbed ;  and  since  then  there  has 
really  been  comparatively  little  disturbance,  especially 
among  the  better  classes  of  physicians,  who  almost 
universally  recognize  the  claims  of  homeopathy  as  an 
exact  science. 

The  Doctor  thought  that  of  the  intelligent  patients, 
for  whose  benefit  the  hospital  was  established,  very  few, 
when  taken  sick,  would  think  of  the"  treatment  to  which 
they  would  be  subjected.  If  this  had  proved  to  be  true, 
the  beds  would  have  been  spared  for  other  patients,  as 
he  desired,  and  the  community  would  have  been  satis- 
fied, as  a  choice  of  treatment  would  have  been  offered 
them. 

But  what  do  facts  indicate  in  the  case?  I  knew, 
and  probably  every  other  homeopathic  physician  knew, 
of  cases  of  boarders,  or  seamstresses,  or  servants,  who 
were  being  cared  for  under  great  disadvantages,  and 
who  would  have  been  very  glad  of  beds  in  the  hospital, 
but  who  would  have  died  in  an  attic  alone  rather  than 
go  there  to  take  crude  medicines.  And  we  know  of 
ladies  now  who  take  care  of  their  servants,  and  do  their 
work  for  them,  rather  than  have  them  exposed  to  such 
treatment.  The  Doctor  had  no  conception  of  the  hor- 
ror a  genuine  homeopathist  has  of  crude  drugs. 

Another  serious  difficulty  was  expressed  as  follows  : 
"  With  the  present  limited  number  of  buildings  at  our 
disposal,  and  the  divisions  made  necessary  for  the 
accommodation  of  male  and  female  medical  and  sur- 
gical patients,  your  Committee  can  see  no  way  by 
which  the  wishes  of  the  very  respectable  body  of 


MEDICAL  ETHICS. 


275 


petitioners  can  be  complied  with."  There  were,  besides 
the  six  large  wards  that  have  room  for  twenty-eight 
beds  in  each,  many  others  of  all  sizes,  from  a  single 
bed  to  seven  beds.  And  we  offered  to  show  to  any 
committee,  that  all  we  asked  could  be  given  us  without 
tlie  slightest  inconvenience  to  any  arrangements.  But 
suppose  it  had  been  inconvenient  to  grant  the  request 
of  the  petitioners,  should  they,  for  that  reason,  have 
ignored  the  claims  of  citizens  who  pay  one  third  of 
the  expenses  ?  It  certainly  was  inconvenient  for  them 
to  be  shut  out. 

Let  us  look  at  the  ethics  of  this  question  through  a 
simple  illustration.  Three  brothers  build  a  house  to 
live  in,  d  la  Hotel  Pelham,  each  paying  equal  shares. 
When  it  is  done,  it  is  found  that  the  families  of  A  and 
B  are  so  prejudiced  against  the  family  of  C  that  they 
study  how  not  to  let  him  in.  A  says  to  B,  Our 
families  are  large,  and  we  can  find  use  for  all  the 
rooms  ourselves.  We  are  conservative,  and  want  to 
continue  the  good  old  customs  taught  by  our  fathers 
for  centuries,  and  handed  down  to  us.  We  used  to 
take  brimstone  every  other  day,  and  have  the  colic  as 
often,  and  when  we  got  over  it  always  felt  better ;  and, 
being  alive  yet,  we  cherish  the  old  system,  and  wish  to 
transmit  it  to  our  children.  But  C  has  a  crotchet  in 
his  head  that  colic  is  unwholesome,  and  he  uses  brim- 
stone only  in  homeopathic  doses. 

Now,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that,  if  his  children  get 
along  without  brimstone  and  the  colic,  our  children  will 
want  to  dispense  with  them  also,  and  that  would  be  fatal 


276  MEDICAL  ETHICS. 

to  harmony.  The  thing  was  tried  in  France  once,  and 
that  was  the  result.  Besides,  if  our  brother  comes  in, 
some  loafer  will  want  to  come  in  with  him.  Now  let 
us  tell  C:  he  is  a  very  respectable  young  man,  and  in- 
telligent withal,  and  will  see  at  once  the  force  of  our 
argument,  especially  as  two  is  a  large  majority  against 
one,  and  majorities  are  expected  to  control  personal 
rights.  His  family  is  small,  and  needs  but  little 
room,  and  is,  therefore,  indifferent  about  a^iy ;  and, 
under  these  circumstances,  we  propose  to  take  all  the 
rooms  ourselves,  and,  after  we  are  fairly  settled,  per- 
haps we  may  find  a  room  suflSciently  isolated  to  be  safe, 
or,  what  would  be  better,  perhaps,  build  him  a  cottage 
by  himself.  But  C  answers,  We  can't  see  the  point. 
Small  as  we  are,  we  feel  the  cold  outside,  and  know 
our  rio'hts  within.  Still,  being  small  and  good-natured, 
we  only  ask  for  a  little  room  till  we  grow  to  need  more. 
Is  this  unreasonable  ? 

Having  followed  the  Doctor's  suggestions,  and  re- 
viewed all  the  facts  presented,  we  came  to  conclusions 
differing  widely  from  those  of  the  Eeport.  Nor 
could  we  agree  with  it,  that  it  was  best  to  start 
the  concern  before  this  question  was  settled.  We 
thought  the  best  time  to  get  into  the  cars  was  before 
they  had  started;  and,  therefore,  asked  the  Board  to 
take  up  the  petition  again,  and  give  it  to  a  committee, 
with  instructions  to  report  whether  homeopathy  might 
not  be  introduced,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
petitioners,  and  the  wishes  of  the  community,  as  ex- 


THE  EFFECT  OF  PERSECUTION.  277 


pressed  in  all  the  public  journals,  and  yet  in  accord- 
ance with  all  the  rules  and  ordinances  of  the  institution. 
Of  course  it  did"  not  comport  with  the  wishes  of  the 
doctors  who  controlled  the  matter  to  have  it  reconsid- 
ered ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  wishes  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  the  positive  proof  that  homeopathy  not  only 

cuts  short  diseases,  but  increases  the  chances  of  life,  

facts  so  fully  understood  that  some  of  the  best  insurance 
companies  will  insure  the  lives  of  those  who  allow  no 
other  practice  for  fifteen  per  cent,  less  than  others,— 
yet,  for  four  years,  the  Hospital  has  been  carried  on 
under  the  exclusive  direction  of  old  school  physicians, 
the  good-natured  homeopathists  paying  half  of  the 
enormous  expenses. 

But  if  they  enjoy  the  monopoly,  certainly  home- 
opathic physicians  have  no  reason  to  complain,  for 
the  facts  to  which  I  have  referred  having  been  brouo-ht 
out  by  the  discussion,  and  the  community  seeing,  as 
they  never  saw  before,  the  real  merits  of  the  new  sys- 
tem, are  rapidly  embracing  it;  and  the  number  of 
homeopathic  physicians  in  Boston,  in  the  mean  time, 
has  increased  more  than  one  third,  being  now  over 
fifty,  while  in  1864  it  was  less  than  thirty. 

And  if  we  are  the  ignorant  quacks  we  are  charged  with 
being,  we  are  ignorant  in  spite  of  all  the  knowledge 
we  could  get  from  Harvard  Medical  College,  being 
mostly  graduates  from  that  institution;  and  althoiigh 
it  requires  three  times  as  many  families  to  support  us 
as  it  does  to  support  our  allopathic  brethren,  our 


278  THE  EFFECT  OF  PERSECUTION. 

patients  being  sick  but  half  as  long,  and  less  than 
half  as  often  as  theirs,  we  are  all  getting  a  good  living. 
So  that,  for  the  next  Act  in  this  fnteresting  Drama 
we  can  afford  to  wait,  and,  attending  to  our  own  busi- 
ness,  imitate  the  example  of  the  good-natured  husband, 
who  cheerfully  submitted  to  the  tirade  of  his  little  wife, 
because  it  did  him  no  harm,  and  seemed  to  do  her  so 
much  good. 


MEDICINES. 


279 


MEDICINES  A  GIFT  FEOM  GOD.  ' 

Nothing  in  Nature  exhibits  to  my  mind  more  clearly 
the  benevolence  of  God,  than  his  provision  for  relieving 
sufferings  by  medicine.  If  these  sufferings  were  inev- 
itable, even  human  benevolence  might,  if  possible,  pro- 
vide a  remedy ;  but  being  the  result  —  as  every  one  of 
them  is  —  of  some  breach  of  some  clearly-revealed  law, 
it  seems  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  of  mercy  that  in 
the  noisome  weed  at  our  door,  in  the  fang  of  the  ser- 
pent, in  the  sting  of  the  bee,  in  the  mineral  poisons,  as 
well  as  in  the  beautiful  plants  and  flowers  of  the  field, 
there  should  be  provided,  beforehand,  "  a  balm  for  every 
wound,"  —  a  relief  for  every  pain. 

But  nothing  can  be  more  clearly  proved  than  that 
such  a  provision  is  made,  even  for  sufferings  which  we 
can  trace  directly  to  imprudences  and  sins.  A  man 
imprudently  exposes  himself  to  wet  and  cold,  and,  in 
consequence,  his  tonsils  swell,  fever  comes  on,  and  he 
is  prostrated  with  sickness.  He  takes  of  deadly  night- 
shade and  wolf's-bane,  —  two  of  our  most  poisonous 
weeds,  —  in  divided  doses  too  small  to  do  the  slight- 
est harm,  and  is  cured  perhaps  in  a  single  night. 

Or  he  eats  imprudently,  and  colic  is  induced,  and  he 
takes  perhaps  the  hundredth  part  of  a  drop  of  the  tinc- 
ture of  nux  vomica,  and  is  relieved,  it  may  be,  in  ten 
minutes. 


280  CRUDE  DRUGS. 

Or  he  takes  improper  food  and  drinks,  and  his  blood 
becomes  low,  and  dropsical  deposits  are  gathered,  to  the 
amount,  it  may  be,  of  gallons,  and  a  medicine  prepared 
from  the  sting  of  a  single  bee  may  remove  it  in  three 
weeks,  although  it  might  have  been  months  in  accumu- 
lating. 

Or  he  wickedly  contracts  some  disease,  which  is  cured 
perfectly  by  inoffensive  doses  of  mineral  medicine. 

Or  he  has  an  old  sore,  that  has  lasted  for  years,  and 
has  resisted  corrosive,  caustic,  and  all  sorts  of  harsh 
medicines;  but  the  application  of  tea,  made  from  a 
common  plant,  may  heal  it  perfectly. 

These  are  but  the  recitation  of  influences  that  come 
daily  under  the  observation  of  all  homeopathic  physi- 
cians, and  prove  to  my  mind  conclusively  that  this  is 
Nature's  plan  for  curing  diseases. 


Crude  Drugs  Dangerous. 

If  it  be  true  that  such  simple  means  are  all  that  are 
required  to  remove  the  gravest  diseases,  —  and  nothing 
can  be  more  clearly  proved,  —  surely  it  is  important 
that  the  fact  should  be  known,  especially  to  mothers; 
for  however  otherwise  doctors  may  differ,  they  all  agree 
in  this:  that  castor  oil,  rhubarb,  Ayer's  pills,  and  all 
kinds  of  cathartics,  and  other  active  medicines,  do  im- 
mense injury  to  the  constitution,  causing,  as  they  do, 
much  of  the  temporary  suffering  from  constipation, 
hemorrhoids,  colics,  liver  complaints,  dyspepsia,  &c., 
from  which,  in  the  way  in  which  most  mothers  man- 


CRUDE  DRUGS. 


281 


age  their  cliildren,  very  few  are  exempt,  and  perpetu- 
ating these  sufferings  during  all  their  lives. 

And  in  view  of  these  opinions,  corroborated  as  they 
are  by  the  facts  presented  in  the  chapter  on  the  Uses 
and  Abuses  of  Medicines,  every  intelligent  doctor,  not 
only,  but,  on  reflection,  every  intelligent  man  and 
woman,  would  join  me  in  advice  to  every  family  in 
the  country  and  the  world,  as  the  first  step  towards 
securing  their  families  from  attacks  of  sickness  and 
pain,  and  towards  giving  their  children  a  chance  to 
live  and  enjoy  health,  to  banish  from  the  house,  and 
never  again  allow  to  enter  it,  every  bottle  and  package 
of  castor  oil,  rhubarb,  pills,  soothing  syrup,  paregoric, 
patent  medicine,  and  every  other  crude  article  of  medi- 
cine. 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation,  that  those 
families  who  resort,  at  every  attack  of  colic,  or  pain 
from  indigestion,  or  any  other  derangement  of  the 
digestive  organs,  to  rhubarb,  or  elixir  pro,  or  pain- 
killer, or  any  other  drug  which  affords  relief,  have  a 
constant  use  for  them,  and,  if  the  dose  taken  is  large, 
the  more  sure  the  relief  the  more  certain  the  recur- 
rence of  disease.  Now  this  fact  is  not  only  in  accord- 
ance with  experience  and  observation,  but  it  is  in 
accordance  with  the  law  of  Nature,  which  I  have  else- 
where explained,  given  on  purpose  to  show  us  what  a 
medicine  will  do,  and  thus  show  us  what  symptoms  it 
will  relieve. 

Take  for  example,  Brandreth's  pills,  which  for  the 
last  fifty  years  have  been  perhaps  the  sovereign  remedy 


282     CRUDE  DRUGS  CAUSE  SICKNESS  AND  SUFFERING. 

in  more  families  in  this  country  than  any  other  com- 
pound. Their  principal  ingredients  are  aloes  and  tolo- 
cynth  —  medicines  which  form  the  basis  of  almost  all 
the  drastic  pills  which  have  been  used  for  the  last  fifty 
years,  as  pill  cochiac,  pill  rufi,  Ayer's  pills,  &c.,  which 
almost  always  produce  colics  and  pains,  and  which 
have  probably  been  the  cause  of  more  piles,  dysen- 
teries, and  liver  complaints,  a  thousand  times  over, 
than  they  ever  cured. 

These  medicines  do  undoubtedly  relieve  pain  for  the 
time,  as,  when  a  boy,  I  had  occasion  to  know  by  expe- 
rience;  but,  as  I  also  fully  remember,  those  pains 
would  soon  return:  and  thus  for  weeks  together  no 
day  would  pass  without  a  resort  to  this,  or  some  other 
abominable  drug.  The  first  attack  was  probably 
caused  by  some  indigestible  food ;  all  the  others  by 
the  pills  which  were  taken  to  cure  it. 

That  both  aloes  and  colocynth  will  cause  indigestion, 
colics,  piles,  and  other  troubles,  has  been  proved  a 
hundred  times  over  —  not  only  by  observing  the  effects 
of  pills,  so  universally  used,  but  by  careful  proving  of 
them  by  persons  in  health.  And  there  is  not  a  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  investigated  the  sub- 
ject, that  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  all  the  sickness 
and  suffering  of  those  who  habitually  resort  to  active 
crude  drugs  for  relief  of  pain,  are  caused  and  perpetu- 
ated by  the  very  drugs  to  which  they  resort. 

If  that  be  true,  ninety-nine  hundredths  of  all  their 
sufferings  would  be  saved  by  banishing,  and  placing 
beyond  their  reach,  all  such  drugs  and  medicines. 


THE  "sovereign  REMEDY."  283  ^ 

Without  such  precaution,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  resolve 
not  to  use  these  deleterious  articles,  for,  when  a  child 
is  sick,  the  mother  will  instinctively  do  something  for 
its  relief;  and,  in  a  sudden  and  violent  attack  of  pain, 
I  have  known  mothers  kill  their  children  outright  with 
opium,  or  antimony,  or  even  arsenic,  in  their  thought- 
less desperation.  tlow  vastly  important,  then,  that 
mothers  should  study  to  know  what  to  do  in  case  of 
sickness,  and  be  prepared  to  do  it,  otherwise,  though 
she  may  not  be  in  great  danger  of  killing  her  children 
outright,  there  is  certainly  a  probability,  in  the  present 
state  of  ignorance  in  the  community  on  that  subject, 
of  doing  harm  rather  than  good,  even  if  she  have  no 
deleterious  drugs  in  her  own  house. 

In  this  case  the  child  will  take,  of  course,  what  the 
nearest  neighbor  happens  to  have. 

If  pain-killer,  or  composition,  or  any  other  of  those 
violent  stimulants  recommended  by  that  class  of  prac- 
titioners who,  though  they  have  a  horror  of  mineral 
medicines,  give  vegetable  poisons  much  more  virulent, 
down  will  go  into  the  delicate  stomach  enough  to  draw 
a  blister,  or  inflame  a  surface  of  the  skin,  if  applied  out- 
side, of  many  inches  in  extent. 

If  paregoric,  soothing  syrup,  or  laudanum,  down 
will  go  enough  of  that  to  make  it  stupid  for  twenty- 
four  hours. 

If  Ayer's  Pills,  or  Mandrake  Pills,  or  any  other  of 
the  popular  cathartic  medicines,  down  will  go  enough 
of  aloes,  colocynth,  or  podophylon,  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  piles,  colics,  dyspepsias,  and  liver  complaints, 


^  284  THE  "  SOVEREIGN  REMEDY.'' 

—  if  followed  up  after  the  usual  fashion, — that  will 
last  the  lifetime. 

And  thus  are  laid  the  foundations  of  much  of  the 
suffering  in  community ;  and  so  persistent  are  ignorant 
and  reckless  neighbors  in  the  idea  that  whatever  they 
have  used,  especially  if  their  mother  used  it  before 
them,  —  even  if  half  their  children  had  died  under  its 
use, — is  the  best  and  only  thing  to  be  used  in  any 
sickness,  that  in  some  neighborhoods,  while  a  doctor, 
whose  business  it  is  to  give  what  is  best  and  avoid 
everything  else,  is  paid  for  regular  attendance,  a  child 
cannot  be  sick  a  week  till  some  neighbor  shall  insist  on 
smuggling  into  it,  without  the  doctor's  knowledge,  their 
own  sovereign  remedy. 

I  once  had  a  family  of  four  children  sick  at  once 
with  scarlet  fever.  They  were  all  very  sick;  but, 
under  proper  treatment,  I  expected  they  would  all  re- 
cover —  as  they  did.  When  they  were  sickest,  a  woman 
came  some  miles  from  the  country,  not  knowing  the 
afflicted  mother,  but  hearing  of  the  sickness  of  her 
children.  She  said  she  felt  great  sympathy  for  her, 
for  she  had  experienced  the  same  trial,  having  had 
four  children  sick  at  once  with  the  same  disease ;  and 
having  heard  of  her  afflictions  she  had  come  down  to 
do  what  she  could  for  her. 

She  had,  she  said,  an  excellent  medicine,  which  she 
always  used  in  case  of  sickness,  and  her  mother  used  it 
before  her,  and  it  always  did  good,  and  was  perfectly 
harmless.  (This  last  merit,  by  the  way,  pertains  to  all 
domestic  and  quack  medicines,  however  virulent :  in  the 


THREE  CLASSES  OF  PRACTITIONERS.  285 


opinion  of  their  advocate,  they  are  always  harmless.) 
She  said  she  gave  it  to  her  children  between  the  doctor's 
t    doses,  and  it  did  them  a  great  deal  of  good. 

She  was  asked  how  long  her  children  were  sick. 
'^O  not  very  long.  They  g^t  along  nicely  for  about 
a  week,  and  then  they  suddenly  got  worse,  —  she  never 
could  tell  why,  —  and  three  of  them  died  ;  but  the  other 
got  well,  and  is  now  the  smartest  boy  in  the  neighbor- 
hood." The  aflSiicted  mother  concluded  not  to  try  the 
medicine,  and  after  the  children  were  better,  she  told 
me  the  story  as  I  have  recorded  it. 

If  a  young  mother  has  no  fixed  opinions  respecting 
the  uses  and  abuses  of  medicines,  the  prospect  of  rais- 
ing her  child,  and  securing  for  it  any  degree  of  comfort 
and  health,  depends  very  much  on  her  neighbors ;  and 
she  may  bless  God  for  the  providence  that  shall  place 
her  in  a  homeopathic  neighborhood.  And  this  brings 
me  to  the  consideration  of 

The  Importance  of  Fixed  Principles  in  Medicine. 

The  medical  world  may  be  divided,  so  far  as  relates 
to  the  use  of  medicine,  into  three  classes  :  1.  Heroic 
Practitioners  —  Those  who  use  crude  and  poisonous 
medicines.  2.  Expectant  Practitioners  —  Those  who 
trust  to  Nature,  and  use  no  medicine.  3.  Home- 
opathists  —  Those  who  use  homeopathic  medicine. 

Heroic  Treatment  of  Disease. 
Those  who  believe  in  and  depend  on  crude,  active, 
poisonous  medi<  ines  for  the  cure  of  disease,  are  styled 


286 


HEROIC  TREAmENT. 


heroic  practitioners.  Of  this  class  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Benjamin  Eush,  who  commenced  his  practice  in  this 
country  one  hundred  years  ago,  is  a  strong  representa- 
tive. So  important  did  he  consider  medicine  in  the 
cure  of  disease,  that  he^  declared  it  to  be  his  opinion 
that  thousands  of  patients  had  been  sacrificed  by  the 
followers  of  Hippocrates,  "by  letting  Nature  loose 
upon  sick  people."  This  class  includes  Eclectic  prac- 
titioners, whose  predominant  characteristic  is  that  they 
use  no  mineral  medicines,  although  they  use  vegetable 
medicines  equally  poisonous,  and,  some  of  them,  quite 
as  virulent;  and  it  includes  also  the  supporters  and 
consumers  of  all  the  quack  nostrums  with  which  the 
world  is  flooded. 

The  terrible  fault  of  this  class  is,  they  do  not  under- 
stand the  medical  power  of  Nature.  They  do  not  know 
that  Nature  always  tries  to  cure  disease,  and  will  gener- 
ally succeed  if  not  interfered  with.  But  that  this  is 
true  is  abundantly  proved,  as  is  also  the  fact  that  crude 
medicines  do  interfere  with  Nature's  arrangements  for 
cure,  and  thus  cause  the  death  of  patients  innumerable. 
For  proof  of  this  alarming  fact,  see  quotations  already 
made  from  the  celebrated  Professor  Magendie,  that 
"it  is  especially  where  medicine  is  most  active  that 
mortality  is  greatest;"  see  also  statistics,  recorded 
page  216,  showing  that  in  the  best  hospitals  in 
Europe  a  large  per  cent,  of  the  deaths  were  sacrifices 
to  crude  drugs,  and  that  patients  who  took  no  medi- 
cine recovered  in  one  third  less  time  than  those  who 
took  crude  medicines.     And  these  were  facts  estab- 


• 

THE  MEDICAL  POWER  OF  NATURE.  287 


lished  by  carefully  collected  statistics,  and  they  have 
never,  to  my  knowledge,  been  controverted  or  disputed. 

Expectant  Practitioners. 

To  this  second  class  belong  those  who  trust  mostly 
to  Nature,  and  are  afraid  of  medicine. 

This  system  of  practice  was  instituted  by  Hippocrates 
before  the  Christian  era.  He  believed  that  Nature 
would  cure  all  diseases  if  not  interfered  with,  and 
therefore  was  very  careful  not  to  give  medicine  till  the 
disease  was  removed ;  but  had  a  curious  idea  that 
Nature  needed  some  help  in  clearing  up  the  debris 
that  remained,  and  therefore  gave  medicine  when  the 
patient  was  recovering.  But  he  established  a  very 
important  fact  — 

Nature  can  and  does  remove  very  serious  diseases 
without  the  aid  of  r)iedicine. 

Since  the  age  of  Hippocrates,  the  most  common-sense 
practitioners  have  been  most  careful  not  to  interfere 
with  Nature  by  giving  active  medicine ;  still  the  ten- 
dency of  the  profession  has  always  been  to  forget  the 
teachings  of  Hippocrates,  and  trust  to  medicine  rather 
than  to  Nature  for  cure. 

But  when,  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  Hahnemann 
began  to  teach  that  doses  of  medicine  exceedingly 
minute  would  cure  disease,  if  given  according  to  cer- 
tain principles  which  he  established,  those  who  remem- 
bered the  teachings  of  Hippocrates  naturally  inferred 
that  the  influence  that  Hahnemann  imputed  to  globules 
«vas  really  the  vis  medicatrix  natures. 


288 


TRUSTING  TO  NATURE. 


They  could  not  deny  the  fact  that  Hahnemann's  pa- 
tients did  more  of  them  recover,  and  that  much  sooner, 
than  those  who  were  treated  heroically.  And  this 
inspired  more  confidence  in  the  medical  power  of 
Nature,  and  they  have  gradually  diminished  their 
medicine,  till  their  practice  has  come  to  justify  the 
definition  given  to  the  practice  by  the  celebrated  French 
professor,  who  said,  "Medicine  is  the  art  of  pleasing  the 
patient  while  Nature  cures  the  disease." 

That  this  placebo  practice  is  a  vast  improvement 
over  that  murderous  heroic  practice  still  believed  in 
and  practised  by  so  many  now,  even  in  Boston,  —  but 
less  here,  perhaps,  than  any  other  place  in  the  world, 

 not  only  in  regard  to  the  comfort  of  the  patient,  but 

in  the  number  of  recoveries,  and  length  of  time  required 
for  treatment,  is  shown  by  experiments  and  statistics, 
from  which  there  can  be  no  appeal. 

About  forty  years  ago,  Louis,  a  physician  to  one  of 
the  largest  hospitals  in  Paris,  probably  instigated  by 
the  facts  before  mentioned  relating  to  the  success  of 
Hahnemann,  instituted  experiments,  on  a  largQ  scale, 
to  test  the  value  of  active  medicine.  He  placed  side 
by  side,  in  the  same  hospital,  in  separate  wards,  two 
hundred  patients  with  the  same  disease,  and,  except  in 
reo-ard  to  medicine,  with  exactly  the  same  treatment ; 
but  to  one  hundred  he  gave  the  usual  medicmes, 
and  the  other  hundred  he  trusted  to  Nature  without 
medicine. 

To  the  mortification  of  heroic  practitioners,  he  found 
that  the  number  of  deaths  was  the  largest,  and  the  time 


HOMEOPATHIC  TEEATMENT. 


289 


of  sickness  the  longest,  among  those  who  had  the  usual 
treatment  of  medicine.  And  this  important  fact  has 
been  established  in  relation  to  all  classes  of  diseases 
by  numerous  similar  experiments,  corroborating  the 
statement  of  Magendie  and  the  statistics  already  re- 
ferred to. 

These  facts  are  not  given  to  show  that  the  services 
of  rational  practitioners  are  valueless  to  their  patients ; 
for,  however  difficult  it  may  be  to  show  how  a  heroic 
practitioner  can  give  an  equivalent  for  the  terrible  ef- 
fects of  the  crude  drugs  which  he  administers,  yet  the 
^  rational  practitioner,  especially  if  he  is  not  deluded  with 
the  idea  that  alcohol  is  nutritious,  and  that  crude,  dis- 
organized iron  furnishes  material  for  red  blood,  may 
and  does  furnish  an  equivalent  for  his  fees  in  the  care 
and  general  management  of  the  case,  and  in  the  confi- 
dence inspired  by  having  some  one  at  the  helm  who  is 
supposed  to  understand  navigating  in  such  storms. 
Still  it  is  no  more  clearly  proved  that  rational  practice 
is  an  improvement  on  heroic  practice  than  it  is  proved 
that  hojmeopathic  is  an  improvement  on  rational  practice. 

Homeopathic  Treatment  of  Disease, 
The  statistics,  already  referred  to,  which  show  that 
a  large  per  cent,  of  patients,  and  much  of  the  time  of 
sickness,  are  lost  by  active  medicines,  compared  with 
those  in  the  same  hospitals  who  have  no  medicines, 
show  that  a  larger  per  cent,  of  deaths  and  a  larger 
part  of  the  time  of  sickness  are  saved  by  homeopathic 
treatment,  compared  with  the  expectant  or  do-nothing 
19 


290 


HOMEOPATHIC  TREATMENT. 


treatment.  See  statistics  on  page  219.  These  facta 
show  to  unprejudiced  minds  conclusively,  that,  besides 
the  exemption  from  doing  harm  which  homeopathy  has 
in  common  with  expectant  treatment,  there  is  an  im- 
portant positive  influence  of  homeopathic  medicine  in 
assisting  Nature  in  the  removal  of  disease ;  and  yet 
expectant  practitioners,  whose  minds  are  riveted  to 
the  idea  that  "homeopathy  is  a  specious  mode  of 
doing  nothing,"  cannot  be  made  to  see  or  acknowl- 
edge these  undisputed  and  indisputable  facts,  and, 
what  is  worse,  they  are  a  thousand  times  more  bitter 
against  homeopathy  and  homeopathic  physicians,  — 
especially  if  they  graduated,  as  most  of  us  did,  at 
their  colleges,  —  than  are  heroic  practitioners.  And 
as  most  people  have  unbounded  confidence  in  the  opin- 
ion of  their  doctor,  and  as  they  look  to  no  other  source 
for  information  respecting  this  or  any  other  subject  per- 
taining to  medicine,  they  are,  of  course,  kept  in  igno- 
rance of  its  real  merits. 

Of  hundreds  who  have  told  me  what  their  doctors 
said  of  homeopathy,  not  one  of  them  ever  got  any- 
thing like  the  truth  either  in  regard  to  the  principles 
or  practice  of  it ;  and  the  ideas  thus  obtained  of  it  are 
the  most  absurd  and  contradictory. 

One  tells  them  it  is  trusting  to  Nature,  and  humbug- 
ging the  patient  with  the  pretence  that  sugar  globules 
have  some  influence  in  the  cure ;  and  to  prove  that  this 
pretended  medicine  can  do  no  good,  they  offer  to  swal- 
low a  whole  bottleful.  Of  the  millions  of  families  who 
have  used  these  globules  for  years,  there  is  not  an  in- 


HOMEOPATHIC  TREATMENT.  291 
* 

telligent  man  or  woman  who  does  not  know  that  they 
do  have  an  effect,  though  they  may  not  understand 
how  it  is  done.  Take,  for  example,  the  single  article, 
aconite. 

Millions  of  intelligent  people  will  testify  that  they 
have  experienced  or  witnessed,  in  the  case  of  a  burning 
fever  suddenly  induced,  a  sensible  influence  in  cooling 
it  down  from  globules  of  aconite,  in  less  than  twenty 
minutes.  What  folly  to  attempt  to  prove  to  such 
people,  by  swallowing  a  bottleful  of  globules  of  aco- 
nite, that  they  have  been  deceived  by  their  senses  and 
their  consciousness  ! 

Besides,  the  very  idea  that  nothing  can  do  good 
that  cannot  do  harm,  is  perfectly  heathenish,  and  con- 
trary to  all  the  laws  of  Nature,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
shown.  There  is  not,  in  the  whole  range  of  sciences, 
a  single  branch  established  by  such  an  accumulation 
of  facts  and  experiments  as  the  principles  of  home- 
opathy. 

That  th^  earth  revolves  round  the  sun,  and  the  moon 
round  the  earth ;  that  caustic  lime  and  more  caustic 
sulphuric  acid  will  unite  to  form  inert  gypsum;  that 
it  took  ages  to  construct  the  earth  as  we  now  find  it, 
instead  of  a  single  week ;  and  a  hundred  other  similar 
propositions  not  more  reasonable  to  the  uneducated 
mind,  and  not  supported  by  half  the  facts  or  arguments 
as  the  proposition  that  any  medicinal  substance  which 
in  large  doses  will  produce  certain  symptoms  will  in 
small  doses  relieve  similar  symptoms,  are  propositions 
believed  in  by  every  intelligent  man  and  woman  in 


292 


OPPOSITION  TO  HOMEOPATHY. 


Christendom.  And  yet  our  learned  professors  seem 
to  expect  to  keep  the  public  mind  in  darkness  on  this 
important  subject  merely  by  ridicule. 

One  in  particular,  who  for  twenty-seven  years  has 
been  held  as  the  champion  of  America  in  opposition  to 
it,  although  he  commenced  with  the  promise  not  to 
"  treat  it  by  ridicule,  but  by  argument,"  and  with  the 
expressed  expectation  of  utterly  demolishing  it  in  a 
single  hour,  has  never  to  this  day  been  known  to 
devote  to  the  subject  a  single  hour,  or  even  five  min- 
utes, in  anything  but  ridicule. 

When  called  before  the  trustees  of  the  Hospital, 
in  the  case  already  referred  to,  with  facts  and  argu- 
ments sufficient  to  convince  any  candid  mind  of  its 
truth  and  importance,  put  in  hi&  hands  beforehand  for 
the  purpose  of  answering,  his  attention  to  them  being 
repeatedly  called  by  direct  questions,  he  evaded  every 
one  of  them,  and  spent  at  least  two  hours  in  frivolous 
ridicule  —  most  of  the  time  in  reciting  isolated  passages 
from  an  old  homeopathic  book,  which,  in  their  proper 
connection,  illustrated  an  important  principle,  but 
which,  by  perversion,  were  made  to  show  that  home- 
opathists  had  no  more  important  business  than  teach- 
ing how  to  cure  hiccough  and  sneezing. 

Another  doctor  tells  his  patients  that  homeopathists 
aiE  not  honest;  that  while  they  pretend  to  give  only 
infinitesimal  doses,  they  actually  do  give  the  most  viru- 
lent poisons;  and  to  prove  their  assertion,  recite  some 
terrible  cases  of  death  and  deformity  thus  produced. 

I  once  had  a  patient,  of  that  class  who  are  content 


PREJUDICES  AGAINST  HOMEOPATHY.  293 


with  no  one  kind  of  treatment  but  for  a  short  time,  who 
came  to  me  from  an  old  school  physician,  and  went 
from  me,  after  a  few  weeks,  to  another.  The  case  was 
a  chronic,  incurable  scrofulous  disease,  which  some- 
times assumed  one  form,  and  sometimes  another. 

About  the  time  she  came  to  me,  it  assumed  the  form 
of  a  white  swelling  on  the  knee ;  while  under  my  care, 
for  perhaps  a  week,  I  gave  her,  for  some  symptoms 
which  indicated  it,  arsenicum,  of  the  fourth  dilution  — 
dose,  perhaps,  the  ten  thousandth  part  of  a  grain  every 
night,  in  all  seven  of  the  ten  thousandth  parts  into 
which  the  grain  was  divided,  and  very  imprudently  told 
her  what  I  was  giving,  without  explaining  the  amount. 
She  told  her  new  doctor  the  fact  that  she  had  been  tak- 
ing arsenic ;  and  he  said  he  then  understood  the  case 
perfectly.  He  had  seen  a  great  many  similar  cases, 
where  arsenic  had  been  given  in  large  doses,  that 
showed  that  while  homeopathy  pretended  to  give  sim- 
ple, inoffensive  medicine,  it  was  actually  dealing  in 
deadly  poisons,  &c. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  last  man  to  go  to,  to  get  true 
information  respecting  homeopathy,  is  an  old  school 
physician.  I  can  speak  from  experience  in  this  matter, 
for  I  ridiculed  it  for  years,  without  understanding  a 
principle  or  fact  upon  which  it  was  founded. 

If  I  looked  into  their  books,  it  was  only  for  the  pur- 
pose of  finding  something  ridiculous  or  inconsistent  in 
them.  If  I  saw  a  plain  case  of  cure  from  it,  I  imputed 
it  to  some  other  influence ;  and  that  others  of  the  pro- 
fession are  as  -gnorant  of  it  to-day  as  I  was  twenty-five 


294  PREJUDICES  AGAINST  HOMEOPATHY. 

years  ago,  is  shown  by  the  ridiculous  and  absurd  state- 
ments from  them  to  which  I  have  referred. 

The  principles  of  homeopathy  are  so  simple  that  the 
child  can  understand  them,  and  so  consistent  that  there 
is  no  dispute  about  them  among  its  advocates,  as  I  have 
elsewhere  explained ;  so  that,  while  old  school  practice 
is  as  much  a  matter  of  experiment  to-day  as  it  was  fifty 
years  ago,  —  and  there  is  not  now  a  more  settled  method 
of  treating  disease,  some  giving  one  thing  and  some 
another  for  the  same  symptoms  and  the  same  disease, 
and  all  abandoning  their  favorite  remedies  at  least  once 
in  ten  years,  —  in  homeopathy  the  same  remedies  are 
used  for  the  same  symptoms  to-day  as  Hahnemann  used 
fifty  years  ago ;  and  although  every  year  adds  to  the 
list  of  proved  remedies,  the  virtues  of  those  first  proved 
will  be  acknowledged  to  the  end  of  time.  One  thing 
only  is  a  matter  for  experiment,  and  that  within  certain 
limits  wide  enough  to  satisfy  all  reasonable  minds,  is 
not,  as  we  shall  see,  a  matter  of  material  consequence. 
The  homeopathic  dose  can  only  be  determined  by  exper- 
iment. 

Hahnemann  commenced  practising  homeopathy  by 
giving,  according  to  the  law  which  he  discovered,  for 
any  particular  symptoms  of  disease,  a  dose  of  the 
medicine  which,  according  to  his  provings,  would  pro- 
duce similar  symptoms,  of  the  same  size  as  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  use  in  his  old  school  practice ;  but 
although  he  effected  some  wonderful  cures,  he  soon 
found  that  in  some  cases  the  disease  was  made  worse, 
and  other  symptoms  induced  quite  as  troublesome  as  the 


HIGH    VND  LOW  DILUTIONS. 


295 


old  ones,  and  he  tried  the  experiment  of  giving  smaller 
doses  ;  and  finding  they  did  just  as  well,  with  less  trouble- 
some symptoms,  he  gradually  diminished  the  dose  till  it 
came  to  be  almost  infinitesimal. 

And  finding  an  influence  from  medicine  too  attenu- 
ated, as  he  thought,  to  be  produced  by  the  substance  of 
medicine,  he  adopted  the  theory  that,  by  trituration,  a 
kind  of  spiritual,  or,  as  he  called  it,  a  dynamic  influ- 
ence, is  imparted  from  the  medicine  to  the  medium  in 
which  it  was  triturated  or  dissolved  and  shaken,  so  that 
it  might  be  perpetuated  without  limit;  and,  getting 
almost  crazed  with  this  idea,  he  at  one  time  supposed 
it  would  grow  stronger  and  stronger  by  agitation,  till 
he  became  afraid  to  carry  those  dilutions  of  medicine 
with  him,  especially  if  riding  on  horseback,  lest  it 
might  become  dangerously  strong. 

This  last  idea,  however,  he  afterwards  abandoned, 
but  the  dynamic  idea  he  never  gave  up,  and  it  is  still 
adhered  to  by  many  of  his  followers ;  and  there  are 
homeopathic  physicians  who  believe  that  high  attenua- 
tions of  medicine  are  more  potent  than  low,  and  I  be- 
lieve there  are  in  Boston  two  or  three  who  rarely  use 
medicine  of  lower  dilution  than  the  thirtieth. 

Nothing  pertaining  to  homeopathy  has  been  the 
source  of  so  much .  ridicule  as  these  high  dilutions, 
and  the  favorite  amusement  of  old  school  practitioners 
is  to  go  into  a  calculation  of  the  amount  of  water  re- 
quired to  make  these  dilutions,  never  making  their  cal- 
culations  according  to  the  manner  in  which  the  dilutions 
are  actually  made,  but  always  misrepresenting  the  facts, 


296  EFFECTS  OF  INFINITESIMAL  ATOM^. 

and  representing  the  thirtieth  dilution  as  an  impossibili- 
ty, inasmuch  as  it  would  require  all  the  water  of  Lake 
Superior  to  make  it :  whereas  it  would  require  but  a 
single  ounce. 

Suppose  one  drop  of  the  tincture  of  belladonna  were 
put  into  ten  drops  of  water,  and  mixed  thoroughly  by 
shaking,  that  would  be  the  first  dilution ;  one  drop  of 
the  first  diluted  with  ten  other  drops  of  water  and 
shaken,  would  make  the  second ;  and  so  on  to  the 
thirtieth ;  so  that  the  thirtieth  may  be  made  by  using 
three  hundred  drops,  which  is  less  than  one  ounce. 
Now  who  shall  say  that,  according  to  the  known  laws 
of  divisibility  of  matter,  the  last  dilution  does  not  con- 
tain some  atoms  of  belladonna  as  well  as  the  first?  if 
not,  who  shall  say  in  which  of  these  dilutions  the  ulti- 
mate atoms  of  belladonna  ceased  to  exist? 

I  know  nothing  about  dynamic  influence,  and  I  see 
no  necessity  for  resorting  to  any  new  principle  in  mat- 
ter to  account  for  any  influence  which  has  been  found 
to  be  produced  by  homeopathic  medicines. 

My  idea  of  dose,  and  my  reasons  for  it,  are  these, 
and  you  have  them  at  your  own  valuation,  thinking, 
as  I  do,  very  little  of  theory  on  any  subject,  further 
than  theory  is  deduced  from  facts. 

What  the  principle  is  that  relieves  pain,  or  assists 
Nature  in  the  cure  of  disease,  is  known  only  from  its 
effects ;  but  whatever  it  is,  it  resides  in  the  ultimate 
atoms  of  w^hich  the  medical  drug  or  plant  is  composed. 
And  as  no  divisibility  of  a  drug  or  any  other  substance 
has  ever  yet  been  ni9.de  so  as  to  reduce  it  to  its  ultimate 


EFFECTS  OF  INFINITESIMAL  ATOMS.  297 

atoms,  it  cannot  be  asserted  of  any  dilution  or  tritura- 
tion ever  yet  made,  if  made  according  to  rule,  that  it 
cannot  retain  an  atom  of  its  original  medicine,  I  can- 
not say  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  high  dilution  to  pro- 
duce an  effect. 

Nor,  in  view  of  the  influences  which  I  see  about  me 
•of  matter  quite  as  infinitesimal,  can  I  join  in  ridiculing 
the  idea  as  absurd,  or  even  unreasonable.  I  have  else- 
where referred  to  spora  too  small  to  be  detected  but  by 
a  powerful  microscope,  which  are  always  found  floating 
in  the  atmosphere  that  produces  intermittent  fever,  and 
which  are  undoubtedly  the  cause  of  that  terrible  disease, 
which  will  prostrate  the  strongest  man,  and  frequently 
unfits  him  for  business  for  months,  and  even  causes 
death. 

And  yet  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  the  thirtieth 
dilution  of  arsenic  is  more  attenuated  than  the  dilution 
of  spora  in  the  atmosphere  which  produced  it.  And  I 
suppose  the  evidence  is  as  conclusive  that  the  thirtieth 
dilution  of  arsenic  has  cured  intermittent  fever,  as  ^hat 
the  equally  attenuated  dilution  of  spora  has  produced 
it.  If,  therefore,  I  reject  the  testimony  that  such  an 
attenuation  of  medicine  will  cure  a  disease,  I  could  not 
consistently  believe  the  testimony  that  such  an  attenu- 
ation of  spora  will  produce  it. 

I  have  also  referred  to  tfie  fact  that  an  atmosphere 
impregnated  with  emanations  from  ivy,  more  diluted 
probably  than  the  thirtieth  dilution,  —  at  least  the 
atoms  are  too  small  to  be  detected  by  a  microscope,  — 
will  in  some  persons  produce  a  disease  that  will  shut 


298     DISEASES  PRODUCED  BY  INFINITESIMAL  ATOMS. 

up  their  eyes  with  swelling,  and  keep  them  in  bed  for 
weeks.  Why  then  should  I  ridicule  the  idea  that  the 
thirtieth  dilution  of  dogwood  —  which  is  known  to  pro- 
duce similar  symptoms  —  should  cure  it  ? 

But  the  fact  that  it  is  possible  to  cure  intermittent 
fever,  or  poison,  with  the  thirtieth  dilution  does  not 
prove  that  the  thirtieth  dilution  is  the  best  form  of 
medicine  to  be  used  in  these  or  any  other  diseases. 
Indeed,  the  inference  from  the  fact  connected  with  the 
taking  of  intermittent  fever  and  other  diseases  from 
similar  dilutions  of  atoms  of  the  poison  which  may 
produce  them,  prove  clearly  to  my  mind  that  the  high 
dilutions  are  not  as  reliable  as  the  low ;  and  this  also 
accords  with  my  own  observation  in  regard  to  the 
effects  of  different  dilutions  of  medicine. 

There  is  certainly  an  analogy  between  the  effects  of 
homeopathic  medicine  in  curing  a  disease,  and  those 
of  infinitely  small  atoms  of  poison  in  inducing  disease, 
as  in  the  cases  just  referred  to.  Let  us  carry  out  that 
an4ogy,  and  see  if  we  may  not  get  some  light  on  the 
question  of  the  homeopathic  dose. 

Let  twenty  men  ride  rapidly  within  twenty  feet  of 
ivy,  and  probably  not  more  than  one  of  this  number 
would  be  so  susceptible  to  the  influences  of  this  poison 
as  to  oe  affected  by  so  slight  an  influence  from  it ;  but 
let  the  same  twenty  men  handle  the  ivy,  or  have  it  in 
the  room  with  them,  and  perhaps  nineteen  would  be 
poisoned  by  it.  But  the  man  who  took  the  poison  by 
riding  by  it  would  probably  be  as  seriously  affected  as 
the  others,  who  could  only  take  it  by  a  stronger  influ- 
ence from  it. 


DISEASES  PRODUCED  BY  INFINITESIMAL  ATOMS.  299 


This  fact  we  see  in  other  familiar  cases.  The  man 
who  takes  small-pox  by  passing  by  the  house  in  which 
it  exists,  or  from  a  mild  case  of  varioloid,  has  it  just  as 
severely  as  if  he  had  taken  it  by  coming  in  contact  w4th 
one  dying  from  it.  He  is  less  likely  to  take  it  by  pass- 
ing by  the  house,  or  by  being  in  the  presence  of  a  mild 
case ;  but  if  he  takes  it  at  all,  the  effect  is  the  same  as 
in  the  other  case. 

Insert  in  the  arms  of  six  children  matter  from  the 
point  of  a  needle  so  infinitesimal  that  it  requires  a  mi- 
croscope to  detect  it,  and  into  the  arms  of  six  other 
children  the  same  matter  from  well-charged  quills,  and 
many  more  of  the  six  well  vaccinated  will  take  it  than 
of  the  six  that  are  thus  slightly  vaccinated ;  but  the 
pustules  of  those  that  do  take  it  from  the  infinitesimal 
vaccination  will  be  as  perfect  and  as  effectual  as  the 
others ;  but  I  never  vaccinate  with  a  cambric  needle, 
because  it  is  less  sure. 

And  this  illustrates  my  belief  and  my  practice  in 
regard  to  doses.  Very  high  dilutions,  with  those  who 
are  very  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  the  medicine, 
will  produce  an  effect,  just  as  infinitesimal  doses  of  ivy 
produced  poisonous  effects  in  the  individual  who  was  sus- 
ceptible enough  to  be  influenced  by  so  slight  an  inocu- 
lation ;  but  comparatively  few  are  suflSciently  susceptible 
to  be  influenced  at  all  by  high  dilutions,  just  as  few  are 
sufficiently  susceptible  to  ivy  to  be  affected  by  passing 
it  in  the  road. 

In  acute  diseases,  when  an  immediate  effect  is  de- 
sired, I  no  more  depend  on  high  dilutions  than  I 


300 


IGH  AND  LOW  DILUTIONS. 


depend  onche  matter  from  the  invisible  point  of  a 
needle  r  a  child  exposed  to  small-pox.  And  my 
obserytion  certaii>ly  corroborates  the  theory  thus  ex- 
plaired. 

1  have  seen  some  splendid  cures  v^ith  high  dilutions 
in  chronic  cases,  where  we  could  afford  to  wait ;  and  in 
such  cases  they  are  better  than  low,  because  their  influ- 
ence is  more  permanent;  but  on  the  other  hand.  I  am 
very  sure  that  my  high-potency  neighbor,  who  never 
gives  medicine  lower  than  the  thirtieth  dilution,  and 
claims  to  be  the  only  pure  homeopathist  in  Boston, 
makes  many  more  visits,  and  much  larger  bills  for 
attendance  in  the  same  class  of  diseases,  than  the  rest 
of  us,  who  give  lower  dilutions.  His  patients  are, 
however,  generally  satisfied,  for  he  does  no  harm,  and 
he  certainly  gives  them  all  the  advantages  of  the  ex- 
pectant treatment,  and  in  chronic  cases  makes  good 
cures. 

But  I  saw  a  case  of  colic  which  had  been  treated  all 
night  with  his  high  dilutions,  being  as  long  as  the 
patient  was  willing  to  wait  for  relief ;  and  she  was 
effectually  cured  in  fifteen  minutes  by  a  single  dose  of 
medicine  of  the  first  dilution. 

One  shrewd  business  man,  whose  wife  was  induced 
to  try  high  dilutions,  from  extravagant  promises  of 
cure  for  some  painful  pleuritic  affection,  said,  on  chan- 
ging his  physician  after  a  long  attendance,  he  thought 
"  high  dilutions  were  well  adapted  to  relieve  plethoric 
pockets,  but  not  to  relieve  pleurisy." 

The  true  dose  of  homeopathic  medicine,  it  seems  to 


HIGH  AND  LOW  DILUTIONS. 


301 


me,  is  that  which  will  soonest  and  most  effectually 
afford  relief,  without  producing, any  deleterious  effects. 
The  crude  drug,  even  in  small  doses,  does  produce  in- 
jurious effects;  I  therefore  never  use  it  in  that  form, 
unless,  perhaps,  for  a  single  dose.  And  the  first,  or 
perhaps  the  second  dilution,  for  the  same  reasons,  I 
give  only  for  a  short  time ;  but  the  third,  in  acute  dis- 
ease, in  which  it  is  never  necessary  to  continue  it  for  a 
long  time,  never,  in  my  hands,  in  a  single  instance, 
that  I  could  perceive,  has  done  the  slightest  harm. 
And,  therefore,  as  it  seems  to  me  to  be  consummate 
nonsense  to  suppose  a  higher  dilution  has  more  cura- 
tive power  than  a  lower,  I  never  could  find  a  motive 
to  try  the  high  in  acute  diseases ;  but  in  cases  where 
one  medicine  is  to  be  continued  for  a  long  time,  the 
higher  seems  to  retain  its  influence  longer,  and,  there- 
fore, m  chronic  diseases,  especially  in  the  use  of  mineral 
medicines,  I  use  higher.  Indeed,  I  never  could  con- 
scientiously risk  a  delay  in  the  cure  of  a  disease  by 
trying  experiments  with  different  dilutions. 

To  use  high  dilutions  in  acute  diseases  seems  to  me 
like  vaccinating  with  a  cambric  needle,  and  charging 
for  visits  till  it  succeeds,  when  vaccinating  with  a  hun- 
dred times  as  much  matter  could  in  no  possible  way  do 
harm,  while  it  would  be  sure  to  take  in  the  first  opera- 
tion 


302 


THE  SAFEST  DOMESTIC  PRACTICE. 


Which  System  is  safest  for  Domestic  Practice? 

When  a  child  or  a  friend  is  sick  and  in  pain,  some 
thing  must  be  done.  Every  good  impulse  of  our  nature 
impels  us  to  act,  and  act  immediately.  How  important, 
then,  to  be  prepared  beforehand  to  act  so  as  not  to  do 
harm,  but  good.  And  in  view  of  the  facts  presented  in 
this  and  the  preceding  chapter,  I  confidently  appeal  to 
the  common  sense  of  every  nurse  or  mother,  and,  in- 
deed, of  every  physician  who  will  lay  aside  prejudice 
long  enough  to  give  common  sense  a  fair  chance,  which 
of  the  two  systems,  the  heroic  or  the  homeopathic,  is 
safest,  and  which,  in  any  case  of  suffering,  will  be  most 
likely  to  afford  relief? 

The  choice  is  between  the  two,  because  no  mother 
ever  will  or  can  trust  to  Nature  while  her  child  is  in 
pain.  She  must  give  some  medicine,  and  the  question 
is.  Shall  it  be  crude  drugs  or  homeopathic  medicine? 
Crude  medicines  always  do  harm,  as  we  have  shown, 
and  this  is  acknowledged  by  all  sensible  physicians  who 
use  them,  who  will  tell  you  they  use  them  "as  a  choice 
of  evils,"  —  that  is,  they  think  the  disease  will  do  more 
harm  than  the  medicine.  In  this  they  are  mistaken, 
as  has  been  proved  bj^  statistics  already  given.  Why, 
then,  use  crude  medicine  at  all? 

There  are  hundreds  of  families  in  Boston,  who,  for 
fifteen,  twenty,  and  some  over  thirty  years,  have  not 
had  in  their  house,  or  suffered  to  pass  the  lips  of  a 
single  member,  a  crude  or  disagreeable  medicine  for 


EXPEEIENCE  IN  THREE  SYSTEMS  OF  PRACTICE.  303 

the  whole  time ;  and  they  not  only  have  not  been  sick 
more,  or  suffered  longer  when  sick,  than  their  drug- 
taking  neighbors,  but  a  thousand  times  less. 

And  I  can  testify,  in  all  honesty,  that  for  the  last 
fifteen  years,  although  previously  educated  to  the  idea 
that  physics  and  emetics  were  necessary  in  relieving 
and  curing  croup,  colic,  constipation,  bilious  troubles, 
&c.,  I  have  never  seen  a  case  that  could  not  be  relieved 
sooner  without  than  with  these  or  any  other  crude  medi- 
cine ;  and  it  is  more  than  twenty  years  since  a  dose  of 
crude  medicine,  or  anything  else  offensive  to  the  taste, 
has  been  allowed  to  pass  between  my  lips. 

Nothing  in  this  world  is  more  clearly  settled,  in  my 
mind,  than  that  crude  or  disagreeable  medicines  are 
unnatural  means  of  relieving  disease,  and,  of  course, 
always  unnecessary.  And  next  to  the  hope  of  heaven, 
there  is  nothing  that  gives  me  so  much  comfort,  in  the 
prospect  of  sickness  and  death,  as  the  assurance  that 
if  my  senses  remain,  I  shall  never,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, be  tormented  with  lancets,  caustics,  cata- 
plasms, emetics,  cathartics,  or  any  crude  or  disgusting 
drugs. 

What  any  or  all  of  these  crude  appliances  can  do  of 
good  or  evil  I  ought  to  understand,  having  been  edu- 
cated to  believe  in  them,  and  having  practised  in  that 
belief  faithfully  for  at  least  ten  years.  In  the  first  of 
my  practice  I  was  engaged  in  a  very  extensive  business 
with  an  old  heroic  disciple  of  Dr.  Rush ;  and  I  wish  I 
could  forget  the  mischief  we  did  with  antimony,  calo- 
mel, aloes,  calocynth,  and  the  lancet. 


304  EXPERIENCE  IN  THREE  SYSTEMS  OF  PRACTICE. 


One  or  the  other,  and  sometimes  all  of  which,  were 
tried  on  a  single  patient.  But  the  experiment  of  Louis 
in  the  hospitals  in  Paris,  to  which  I  have  referred, 
knocked  these  abominable  notions  of  practice  all  out 
of  me,  and  I  soon  went  over  to  the  belief  that  all 
medicines  were  injurious,  and  for  some  ten  more  years 
practised  on  the  Hippocratic  system  of  taking  care  that 
no  harm  should  be  done  till  Nature  should  remove  the 
disease. 

This  was  a  great  improvement  over  the  heroic  prac- 
tice of  the  preceding  ten  years,  and,  excepting  the 
difficulty  in  satisfying  conscience  with  the  deception 
necessary  to  keep  patients  quiet  with  placebo  medi- 
cines, I  was  comparatively  comfortable,  under  the 
^  impression  that  I  was  doing  all  that  could  be  done. 

But  at  the  end  of  about  ten  years  of  expectant  prac- 
tice, a  patient,  who  had  suffered  for  years  with  chronic 
bronchitis,  and  who  had  thoroughly  tried  both  heroic 
and  expectant  treatment,  was  so  indisputably  cured  by 
Dr.  William  Wesselhoeft,  that  I  then  looked  into  the 
merits  of  homeopathy,  and  found,  instead  of  the  "infini- 
tesimal humbug,"  which  I  had  previously  understood  it 
to  be,  a  beautiful  system  both  in  theory  and  practice, 
and  perfectly  consonant  with  common  sense  and  the 
common  laws  of  Nature. 

And  now,  having  devoted  one  quarter  of  my  pro- 
fessional life  to  unmitigated  mischief,  and  one  quarter 
to  a  harmless  but  comparatively  useless  practice,  and 
nearly  one  quarter  more  to  getting  up  courage  suflicient 
to  face  the  opposition  and  persecution  of  my  old  friends 


ADVANTAGES  OF  FIXED  PRINCIPLES.  305 

in  the  profession, — having,  on  that  account,  gone  out 
of  the  profession  for  nearly  ten  years, — I  have  felt  it 
to  be  duty  for  the  last  ten  years,  and  what  remains  of 
life,  to  do  what  I  could  to  atone  for  past  offences,  not 
only  by  practising  homeopathy,  which  I  know  to  be  the 
truth,  but  also'  to  disseminate  its  blessed  influences  in 
the  community  in  which  I  live,,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
in  the  world. 

The  Advantages  of  Fixed  Principles  in  Medicine. 

Aside  fron?  the  positive  advantages  of  doing  right, 
the  peace  of  mind  that  comes  with  a  well-grounded 
faith  in  the  means  used  for  recovery  is  invaluable  in 
any  sickners,  not  only  for  the  comfort  it  affords,  but 
as  a  means  of  assisting  Nature  in  her  indispensable 
recuperative  power.  I  have  seen  a  stalwart  man  die 
for  no  other  apparent  reason  than  that  he  firmly  be- 
lieved he  should  die,  and  had  no  confidence  that  any 
means  could  save  him ;  and  I  have  seen  a  confiding, 
trusting,  hoping  patient  get  well  against  all  human 
probabilities. 

In  cases  of  cholera,  yellow  fever,  plague,  or  any 
other  fatal  epidemic,  it  is  noticed  that  the  panic-stricken 
people  who  run  from  place  to  place  to  escape  it,  anx-  • 
iously  inquiring  of  everybody  they  meet  what  they  must 
take,  are  sure  to  die,  while  the  calm  and  confiding 
nurse,  or  doctor,  or  friend  who  trusts  to  Providence, 
and  to  the  means  which  they  believe  to  be  best  to  pre-^ 
serve  and  cure  them,  seldom  take  the  disease,  or  die 
if  they  do  take  it. 


306 


EVILS  OF  VACILLATING  TREATMENT. 


There  is  nothing  so  trying  in  practice  as  patients  who 
have  no  confidence  in  any  means  of  cure  —  using  one 
day,  it  may  be,  the  right  remedy,  but  taking  at  the 
same  time,  or  soon  after,  something  else  that  shall  en- 
tirely  counteract  all  beneficial  influences.  Such  people 
are  always  sick,  because  they  never  can*get  well. 

Evils  of  a  Vacillating  Course  of  Treatment 

I  have  seen  a  shrewd  and  intelligent  business  man, 
not  neglectful  of  the  interests  of  his  family,  as  such 
men  generally  are,  but  remarkably  devoted  to  them, 
and  careful  to  leave  nothing  undone  that  will  promote 
their  happiness  or  prospects,  either  in  this  world  or  in 
that  which  is  to  come,  devoting  all  the  time  necessary 
to  learn  what  will  be  best  for  them,  in  health,  in  the 
way  of  schools,  amusements,  c&c,  and  carefully  consid- 
ering all  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  any  other 
proposition  pertaining  to  their  welfare  ;  but  so  perfectly 
careless  respecting  what  should  be  done  in  case  of  sick- 
ness, as  not  to  know  whether  crude  drugs,  administered 
by  a  regular  physician,  a  quack,  or  a  spiritualist,  is 
best,  or  whether  either  are  better  or  not  so  good  as 
homeopathic  medicines. 

Accordingly,  when  sick  he  goes  and  takes  his  chil- 
dren to  all  by  turns,  and  neither  long  —  going  some- 
times the  whole  round  of  them  in  a  single  week.  The 
result  is  —  it  must  be  —  that  all  that  is  done  for  them 
is  lost,  and  worse  than  lost,  for  one  doctor  not  only 
interferes  with  and  counteracts  what  the  other  does, 


EVILS  OF  VACILLATING  TREATMENT. 


307 


but  also  interferes  with  Nature's  efforts,  and  the  chances 
of  recovery  are  vastly  less  than  if  nothing  at  all  was 
done. 

If  he  saw  a  merchant  behaving  as  ridiculously  in  his 
trades  and  investments,  buying  a  cargo  of  goods,  and 
getting  them  on  board  his  vessel,  and  then  changing 
his  mind,  and  selling  them  at  a  sacrifice,  and  buying 
another  kind  to  take  their  place ;  sending  vessels  to 
Cuba  with  warming-pans,  and  then  to  Greenland  with 
ice,  he  would  call  him  a  fool,  and  would  know  that  he 
would  '"^oon  become  bankrupt. 

But  is  it  less  absurd,  or  less  sure  to  produce  bank- 
ruptcy in  health,  to  treat  a  constitutional  disease  with 
local  effects  —  at  one  time  with  medicines  to  drive  it 
out  of  the  system,  and  at  another  with  local  remedies  to 
drive  it  back  again  into  the  blood  ?  If  he  would  take 
a  sixteenth  part  of  the  time  to  inquire  and  find  out 
which  is  right  and  which  is  wrong  in  medical  practice, 
that  he  takes  to  investigate  the  security  of  a  single  in- 
vestment, he  would  never  do  such  wrongs  to  himself 
and  his  children. 

And  what  a  difference,  in  peace  of  mind  in  sickness, 
between  a  man  who  knows  the  right  and  steadily  pur- 
sues it,  turning  neither  to  the  right  or  left,  nor  regarding 
the  importunities  of  his  ignorant  and  importunate  neigh- 
bors, and  the  man  who,  not  knowing  what  is  right,  is 
"driven  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,"  —  distracted 
by  finding  that  to  please  one  neighbor  he  has  been 
doing  his  child  harm,  and  then  to  please  another  has 
been  doing  equal  harm  in  another  direction. 


308     HOW  TO  SELECT  MEDICINES  IN  S.CKNESS. 


HOW  TO  SELECT  AIEDICINES  IN  CASE  OF 
SICKNESS. 

The  manner  in  which  the  medical  virtues  of  drugs 
and  plants  are  ascertained,  I  have  elsewhere  partly 
explained,  but  not  fully.  A  number  of  persons  of 
different  ages,  temperaments,  sexes,  &c.,  at  stated 
times,  each  take  a  given  dose  of  medicine,  — generally 
without  knowing  what  is  taken,  —  each  keeping  a  record 
by  himself  of  any  peculiar  sickness,  pains,  or  other 
symptoms  or  changes  that  occur  in  a  given  time,  and 
noting  the  order  of  their  occurrence. 

If  the  medicine  has  any  active  properties,  it  will  be 
found,  on  comparing  notes,  that  some  of  the  effects  will 
be  the  same  on  nearly  all  who  tried  the  experiment ; 
other  effects  will  be  the  same  on  only  part,  and  per- 
haps a  small  part,  of  those  who  took  it ;  and  some, 
perhaps,  who  are  not  susceptible  to  the  influence  of 
that  particular  medicine,  are  not  affected  at  all. 

Some  will  have  very  severe  pains  or  other  symptoms, 
and  others  will  have  the  same  kind  of  pains  in  the  same 
parts  of  the  system,  ,but  less  severe,  and  perhaps  very 
slight.  It  will  be  found,  also,  that  those  of  the  same 
sex  will  have  peculiar  effects,  differing  from  those  of 
the  other  sex ;  that  those  of  the  same  complexion  and 
temperament  will  have  similar  effects,  differing  ■  from 


HOW  TO  SELECT  MEDICINES  IN  SICKNESS.  309 


the  effects  on  those  of  a  different  complexion  or  tem- 
perament. 

Now,  in  case  of  the  occurrence  of  similar  pains  or 
symptoms,  in  the  same  part  of  the  body,  as  those  which 
were  produced  by  the  medicine  tested  in  most  of  the 
individuals  who  tested  it,  a  little,  no  matter  how  little, 
within  reasonable  limits,  will  certainly  relieve  those 
pains  or  symptoms,  unless  the  patient  happens  to  be 
an  exception,  like  the  exceptions  referred  to,  in  which 
that  particular  medicine  has  no  influence ;  and  these 
exceptions  are  as  rare  as  the  exceptions  to  its  influence 
found  in  testing  it. 

If  the  symptoms  are  of  the  class  of  which  only  a  few 
were  affected  in  the  provings,  then  the  probabilities  of 
relief  are  less,  and  dependent  on  the  fact  whether  they 
belong  to  the  same  sex  or  temperament  as  those  affected 
by  the  provings.  And  this  shows  how  much  study  and 
how  much  judgment  are  required  to  practice  home- 
opathy, having  three  or  four  hundred  medicines  to  se- 
lect from,  and  new  ones  are  being  proved  every  day. 

Homeopathy,  therefore,  instead  of  being  that  ridicu- 
lous humbug  which  it  is  represented  to  be,  is  not  only 
the  most  important  and  most  interesting  of  the  sciences, 
but  requires  the  most  judgment  and  the  most  study  to 
apply  it  practically  to  the  varied  and  varying  phases 
of  disease  as  they  come  before  us,  and  as  a  study  it  is 
absolutely  inexhaustible.  Nevertheless,  the  colds,  in- 
flammations, fevers,  bilious  troubles,  bowel  and  stomach 
difficulties,  which  are  the  principal  sources  of  the  suffer- 
ings in  f  milies,  produce  symptoms  which  are  almost 


310 


DOMESTIC  TREATMENT. 


all  produced  by  a  few  well-proved  medicines  —  at  least 
as  many  of  them  as  most  families  are  willing  to  contend 
with,  without  medical  advice. 

Our  books  on  domestic  medicines  are  mostly  too  large 
and  too  complicated,  and  in  case  of  sickness  it  requires 
too  much  study  to  select  a 'remedy  adapted  to  the  case. 
They  devote  a  large  part  of  the  book  to  describing  dis- 
eases, calling  them  by  name,  which,  being  ahke  in 
their  essential  characteristics,  and  requiring  the  same 
remedies,  might  as  well  all  be  described  together  in  one 
single  paragraph,  or,  at  least,  in  very  few  paragraphs. 

For  example:  in  "Family  Homeopathy,"  by  Ellis, 
you  will  find  more  than  three  hundred  pages  devoted 
to  the  description  of  different  kinds  of  fevers  and  inflam- 
mations, as  bilious  fever,  scarlet  fever,  colds  in  the 
head,  pleurisy,  pericarditis,  hepatitis,  pneumonia,  &c. 
—  to  each  of  which  is  given  a  repetition  of  the  same 
prescriptions,  as  the  first  thing  to  be  done,  viz. :  give 
aconite,  and,  if  the  pain  and  soreness  are  local,  use  a 
compress  with  cold  water,  covered  with  dry  flannel. 

If  a  mother  wishes  to  find  out  what  first  to  do  for  her 
child,  when  hot,  and  feverish,  or  sore  in  a  particular 
place,  and  it  hurts  to  touch  it  or  to  move,  why  need 
she  be  compelled  to  read  for  two  hours,  to  find  out 
whether  the  disease  is  pleurisy,  or  pericarditis,  or  hepa- 
titis, before  giving  it  relief,  when,  after  all  her  research,* 
and  whatever  conclusions  she  comes  to  on  that  point, 
the  remedy  is  the  same  ?  Why  not  apply  the  compress 
and  give  the  aconite  at  once,  and  hunt  up  the  name 
afterwards,'  if  it  must  be  had? 


DOMESTIC  TKEAIMENT. 


311 


In  doubtful  and  obstinate  cases,  a  physician  may  de- 
rive much  advantage  from  knowing  the  particular  organ 
affected,  in  order  more  scientifically  to  apply  his  reme- 
dies, some  medicines  being  adapted  to  one  organ  and 
some  another ;  but  why  should  a  mother  bother  herself 
with  such  inquiries,  especially  if  she  must  leave  her 
child  to  suffer  while  going  into  this  useless  inquiry? 

When  a  child  is  taken  with  fever  or  pain,  and  the 
mother  sees  it  suflfering,  she  will  do  something  for  it, 
right  or  wrong,  and  study  up  the  case  when  more  at 
leisure.  She  wants  to  know  what  to  do  for  such 
symptoms ;  and  I  propose  to  devote  a  few  pages  te 
the  symptoms  to  which,  in  our  wrong  mode  of  living, 
which  I  have  elsewhere  explained,  we  are  all  liable, 
and  to  the  remedies  which  Nature  has  provided  for  the 
relief  of  those  symptoms. 

My  purpose  is  not  to  induce  people  to  dispense  with 
the  services  of  a  physician,  for  I  will  not  presume  that 
intelligent  mothers  will  be  foolhardy  enough  to  take  the 
responsibility  of  carrying  a  precious  child,  without  ad- 
vice, through  a  dangerous  fit  of  sickness.  It  is  the 
very  ignorant  only  who  dare  do  that,  if  good  advice 
can  be  had ;  for  those  who  consider  how  little  he  knows 
of  the  laws  of  life,  and  the  laws  of  disease,  who  devotes 
his  life  to  the  study  of  them,  must  feel  that  she  must 
know  much  less  whose  thoughts  and  time  are  devoted 
to  other  things. 

But  I  do  think  that  a  consideration  of  the  virtues  of 
a  few  of  the  common  remedies,  and  the  leading  symp- 
toms they  are  adapted  to  relieve,  will  enable  any  intel- 


312 


DOMESTIC  TREATMENT. 


Ivrent  mother  to  relieve  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  pains  and 
ills  to  which  her  children  are  subject,  and  that  without 
ever  resorting  to  a  crude  and  disgusting  article  of 
medicine,  or  allowing  her  children  to  suffer  a  single 
pain  for  the  want  of  it. 

It  will,  in  the  gravest  cases,  at  least  enable  her  to 
afford  some  relief,  without  danger  of  doing  harm,  till 
medical  advice  can  be  obtained.  For  those  who  live 
fir  away  from  any  good  physician,  some,  good  book  on 
domestic  practice,  describing  more  particularly  diseases 
and  their  remedies,  is  desirable. 

And  perhaps  there  is  no  one  yet  published  combining 
more  valuable  instruction  than  that  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred by  Dr.  Ellis ;  but  it  has  the  defects  to  which  I 
have  referred.  And  I  venture  the  assertion,  that  al- 
though it  is  as  faultless  in  this  respect  as  any  treatise 
on  domestic  remedies  yet  published,  yet,  in  the  way  I 
have  suggested,  a  writer  capable  of  condensing  ideas 
mio-ht  bring  these  four  hundred  pages  into  less  than 
one  hundred,  retaining  every  important  idea,  and 
enabling  the  reader  to  find  out  in  fifteen  minutes  all 
that  from  this  could  be  extracted  in  an  hour.  And 
it  has  another  important  defect.  Although  an  edition 
has  been  published  this  very  year  (1868),  it  ignores 
every  medicine,  with  perhaps  one  exception,  that  has 
been  proved  within  the  last  twenty  years.  And  yet, 
beyond  a  few  of  the  forty-eight  remedies  on  which  he 
depends,  there  are  not  any  on  which  I  wath  more  confi- 
dence and  satisfaction  depend  than  on  some  that  I  can 
select  from  Hale's  New  Remedies. 


HOW  TO  TREAT  INFLAMMATIONS.  313 

For  a  book  containing  the  improvements  suggested 
above  I  have  long  seen  the  necessity,  and  have  some- 
times threatened  to  try  to  supply  the  deficiency;  but 
hitherto  have  found  no  time.  Meantime  I  think  I  can 
condense  into  a  very  limited  space  all  that  any  family 
needs  to  know  who  depends  on  a  physician  for  grave 
and  dangerous  diseases,  and  who  only  desire  to  know 
what  to  do  first  in  severe  cases  till  advice  can  be  had, 
and  what  to  continue  to  do  in  cases  requiring  no  medi- 
cal advice. 


What  to  do  first  in  Case  of  Sickness. 

How  to  treat  Inflammations. 

In  all  cases  occurring  in  cold  weather  give  aconite 
the  first  thing,  and  if  there  be  severe  local  pain  or 
soreness,  apply  to  the  place  of  pain  or  soreness,  or  to 
the  nearest  point  possible,  a  compress  larger  or  smaller, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  part  to  which  the  pain  is 
referred,  consisting  of  four  or  five  thicknesses  of  a 
folded  napkin,  or  other  linen  or  cotton  cloth,  wrung 
out  of  cold  water,  and  two  or  three  thicknesses  of  dry 
flannel  over  it.  Let  this  medicine  be  taken,  and  this 
wet  cloth  be  changed  in  all  except  extraordinary  cases 
at  first  once  an  hour,  and  in  very  severe  sufferings  every 
fifteen  minutes.*  This  in  all  cases  will  be  safe  practice 
long  enough  to  get  advice,  or  to  develop  some  other 
symptoms  requiring  some  other  remedy. 

*  All  family  medicines  should  be  of  uniform  strength  — Globules  No.  3  — 
Third  dilution.  —  Dose  for  adult  five  globules  —  Infants  one  globule  —  Chil- 
dren from  one  to  three. 


314  HOW  TO  TREAT  INFLAMMATIONS. 


How  to  treat  Group. 

In  case  of  severe  croup,  or  affection  of  the  organs 
of  voice,. after  repeating  the  cold  application  and  the 
aconite  two  or  three  times  every  fifteen  minutes,  as  be- 
fore advised,  give,  in  alternation  with  aconite,  hepar  sul- 
phur;  at  first  every  fifteen  minutes,  and  less  and  less 
often  as  the  symptoms  subside,  changing  the  compress 
as  often  as  the  medicine  is  given. 

How  to  treat  Pleurisy  or  other  similar  Diseases, 
In  case  of  pleurisy,  or  any  sharp,  severe  pains  any- 
w^here,  alternate  bryonia  with  aconite,  more  or  less 
often  according  to  the  severity  of  the  pain,  changing 
the  compress,  and  diminishing  the  frequency  of  medi- 
cine, as  in  the  case  of  croup. 

How  to  treat  Swelled  Tonsils. 

In  case  of  inflammation  of  the  throat,  wath  red  swell- 
ing of  the  tonsils,  alternate  belladonna  with  aconite, 
changing  the  compress  on  the  thrgat,  and  using  the 
medicines  as  directed  in  the  foregoing  cases. 

How  to  treat  Diphtheria. 
In  case  of  swelled  tonsils,  with  white  specks  or  a 
buff-colored  coating  on  them,  use  phytolacca  with  aco- 
nite, as  in  the  foregoing  cases,  leaving  off  the  compress, 
and  giving  up  the  aconite  for  baptisia  as  soon  as  there 
is  coldness  of  the  skin,  using  warm  dry  flannel  instead 
of  the  wet  bandage,  and  alternating  the  medicines  every 
hour. 


HOW  TO  TREAT  INFLAMMATIONS .  315 


How  to  treat  Golds. 

«■ 

If  the  inflammation  settles,  as  in  a  cold,  in  the  nasal 
passages,  eyes  or  ears,  or  back  of  the  throat,  alternate 
with  aconite,  for  the  first  day,  sesculus  hippocastanum, 
and  the  next  day  hydrastes,  alternating  the  two  last 
named  medicines  instead  of  the  aconite,  two  or  three 
times  each  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 

How  to  treat  Goughs. 

If  cough  or  soreness  of  the  lungs  occurs,  use  at  first 
sticta  in  alternation  with  aconite,  and  when  it  becomes 
loose,  bryonia ;  and  if  these  fail,  or  if  the  cough  con- 
tinues dry  after  a  few  days,  gelseminum  and  tart,  anti- 
mony. 

How  to  treat  Inflammation  of  the  Bladder, 
If  the  inflammation  settles  in  the  bladder,  and  pain- 
ful or  too  frequent  micturition  is  the  consequence, 
alternate  the  aconite  with  cantharides,  using  the  com- 
press as  before,  for  the  first  twenty-four  hours ;  after- 
wards alternate  gelseminum  and  hydrastes. 

How  to  treat  Rheumatism. 
If  the  inflammation  is  rheumatic,  and  the  muscles  or 
joints  are  sore,  and  it  hurts  to  move  them,  alternate 
bryonia  with  aconite  for  forty-eight  hours,*  if  neces- 
sary, and  if  no  relief  is  experienced,  change  the  medi- 
cines, and  alternate  gelseminum  with  caulophylum  for 
one*day,  and  the  next  day  substitute  phytolacca  for 
caulophylum. 


316     HOW  TO  TKEAT  DISEASES  OF  WARM  WEATHER. 

When  to  stop  talcing  Medicine. 
In  all  these  cases,  and  all  other  cases,  stop  the  medi- 
cine as  soon  as  the  symptoms  are  relieved. 

How  to  treat  Diseases  in  warm  Weather. 
In  warm  weather,  and  in  warm  climates,  another  and 
different  class  of  diseases  are  most  prevalent.  While 
in  winter  the  exciting  cause  of  disease  is  generally 
catching  cold,  in  warm  weather  the  exciting  cause  is 
generally  indigestion,  the  principal  predisposing  cause 
being  the  same  in  both  cases  —  too  much  carbonaceous 
food,  which  tends  to  produce  extra  heat  and  extra  work 
for  all  the  organs,  rendering  them  more  susceptible  to 
disease. 

In  winter,  the  inflammations  and  diseases  are  greatly 
under  the  influence  of  aconite.  In  summer,  they  are 
more  influenced  by  nux  vomica  than  any  other  one  arti- 
cle;  at  least  all  the  colics,  and  cramps,  and  flatulence, 
and  diarrhoeas,  which  come  from  undigested  food,  are 
relieved,  in  grown  persons  of  full  habits  or  dark  com- 
plexions, by  nux;  but  in  children  these  symptoms  are 
best  relieved  by  chamomilla,  and  in  delicate  females 
more  perhaps  by  pulsatilla. 

How  to  treat  Cramps  and  Colics. 
If  a  severe  pain  is  felt  in  the  stomach  or  bow- 
els, which  is  produced  by  undigested  food,  or  from  a 
constipated  habit,  or  from  an  unknown  cause,  nux 
vomica  is  the  remedy  most  likely  to  afford  relief  r  and 


HOW  TO  TREAT  DISEASES  OF  WARM  WEATHER.  317 
• 

if  it  be  accompanied  with  fever  and  heat  in  the  parts 
affected,  use  the  cold  compress  and  aconite  with  the 
nux,  in  alternations ;  but  if  the  patient  be  cold,  make 
warm  applications  instead  of  the  cold  compress,  and 
use  veratrum  instead  of  aconite.  .  If  nux  fails,  colo- 
cynth  is  to  be  used  instead. 

How  to  treat  Diarrhcea. 
If  diarrhoea  comes  on  in  consequence  of  undigested 
food,  accompanied  with  pain,  nux  will  relieve  the  pain 
while  Nature  removes  the  cause.  If  the  diarrhcea  is 
without  pain,  and  colorless,  veratrum  is  the  remedy; 
if  it  be  bilious,  podophylon ;  and  if  accompanied  by 
sickness,  ipecac  or  arsenicum,  with  flour  porridge,  or 
other  food  containing  no  waste. 

How  to  treat  Dysentery. 

If  there  be  forcing  pain  in  the  lower  part  of  the  bow- 
els, and  bloody  or  slimy  discharges,  corrosive  mercury, 
with  aconite,  at  first,  afterwards  gelseminum  and  colo- 
cynth,  and  if  they  fail,  hippocastanum  or  coUinsonia. 

How  to  treat  Constipation. 

If  habitually  constipated,  colHnsonium  every  night, 
with  food  containing  waste,*  for  one  week,  and  hydras- 
tes  in  the  same  way  for  the  next,  till  the  bowels  will  act 
without  these  remedies ;  but  never  take  cathartic  medi- 
cine, or  aperient  pills  or  powders,  which,  though  for  the 
day  give  relief,  yet  always  increase  the  difficulty ;  but 
if  absolutely  necessary,  take  an  enema  instead. 

*  See  Philosophy  pf  Eating,  page  121. 


318 


CATHARTICS  NOT  NECESSARY. 


Cathartics  not  necessary. 

Cathartics  or  emetics  are  never  necessary  to  assist  in 
removing  pain  or  disease ;  and  for  twenty  years  I  have 
never  seen  a  case  of  suffering  from  colics,  cramps, 
stoppage,  or  bilious  obstructions,  that  could  not  be 
relieved  sooner  without  than  with  either  cathartics  or 
emetics. 

Even  if  the  pain  be  occasioned  by  the  presence  of  a 
foreign  substance,  as  cherry  stones,  or  other  indigestible 
substances,  it  is  much  sooner  relieved  by  nux,  colocynth, 
or  belladonna,  which  relaxes  the  spasm  that  causes  the 
pain  by  contracting  the  intestine  and  holding  on  to  the 
offending  substance,  and  lets  it  pass  on  ;  whereas  cathar- 
tic medicines  often  prolong  and  intensify  the  suffering 
by  increasing  the  irritation  and  the  spasm.  Thus  also, 
what  is  called  a  stoppage,  which  is  a  spasmodic  contrac- 
tion of  the  intestine,  caused  by  some  irritating  sub- 
stance, is  much  sooner  relieved  without  than  with 
cathartic  medicine.  This  I  affirm  confidently,  having 
tried  both  methods  of  cure  scores  if  not  hundreds  of 
times. 

Exceptional  Cases  in  which  Cathartics  are  necessary. 

The  only  contingency  in  which  for  twenty  years 
I  have  found  a  cathartic  necessary,  is  one  in  which 
there  is  imbedded  in  the  folds  of  the  intestines  some 
foreign  substance,  which  Nature  is  unable  to  remove, 
as  in  the  followiug  instance  :  A  gentleman  who,  con- 
ceiving the  idea  that  the  seeds  of  barberry  were  good 


now  TO  CURE  NEURALGIA. 


319 


for  dyspepsia,  had  eaten  them  daily  for  three  or  four 
years,  and  had  swallowed  in  all  perhaps  two  or  three 
hundred  pounds,  suffering  all  the  time  with  colics, 
which  were  occasionally  terribly  severe. 

Suspecting  the  cause  of  the  suffering,  —  indeed,  being 
able  to  feel  the  balls  of  accumulated  seeds  through  the 
parietes  of  the  abdomen,  —  he  v/as  put  upon  a  course 
of  lubricating,  oily  cathartics,  with  the  result  of  obtain- 
ing jsorae  pounds  of  these  impacted  balls  of  barberry 
seeds,  and  of  curing  him  at  the  same  time  of  the  absurd 
idea  of  treating  dyspepsia  with  any  such  crude  and  irri- 
tating materials. 

How  to  cure  Neuralgia. 

Neuralgia,  as  its  name  indicates,  is  pain  of  the  nerves, 
^nd  it  is  distinguished  from  pain  induced  by  rheumatism, 
or  other  inflammations,  by  this  distinction  :  Pain  from 
rheumatism  or  other  inflammations  is  always  accom- 
panied with  soreness,  and  increase  of  suffering  on  mo- 
tion ;  while  in  neuralgia  there  is  no  increase  of  pain  by 
motion,  and  very  little,  if  any,  soreness. 

Neuralgia  seems  to  be  caused,  as  I  have  before  ex- 
plained, by  too  much  heating  food,  and  is  indeed  a  kind 
of  inflammation ;  but  the  nerves  affected  are  generally 
covered  over  with  muscle  and  adipose  matter,  which 
protect  them  from  the  effects  of  pressure,  and  not  being 
directly  concerned,  as  the  muscles  are  in  the  motion  of 
the  part,  are  not  affected  in  the  same  way ;  but  when 
neuralgia  is  brought  on  by  cold,  the  same  means  are 
adopted  to  relieve  it  as  other  inflammations  —  aconite 
and  a  cold  compress. 


320 


HOW  TO  TEE  AT  HEADACHES. 


But  there  are  forms  of  neuralgia  connected  with  the 
digestive  organs,  and  these  will  be  relieved  by  the  same 
remedies  that  relieve  pain  in  the  bowels,  to  which  1 
have  referred.  At  any  rate,  excepting  in  cases  occur- 
ring from  catching  cold,  nux,  colocynth,  and  vera- 
trum,  in  the  order  in  which  I  place  them,  are  effectual 
in  relieving  neuralgic  pains ;  and  in  case  of  great  pros- 
tration and  debility,  gelseminum  alternated  with  vera- 
trum,  or  with  arsenicum,  or  with  phytolacca ;  and  these 
are  all  the  remedies  I  should  dare  recommend  without 
getting  advice. 

How  to  treat  Headaches. 

Headaches  are  produced  by  one  of  three  causes  — 
by  constipation  or  indigestion ;  by  over-heated  blood ; 
and  by  neuralgia.  These  may  all  be  cured  and  pre- 
vented by  appropriate  means,  and  by  living  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  life,  as  explained  in  the  Philosophy 
of  Eating.  Of  this  I  speak  confidently,  having  seen 
many  examples  of  cure  in  each  class  of  headaches,  in 
the  young  and  in  the  old,  and  having  seen  no  case, 
however  severe,  that  could  not  be  relieved  by  medi- 
cine, and  prevented  by  appropriate  diet. 

One  lady  of  seventy,  who  all  her  lifetime  had  been 
subject  to  sick  headaches,  and  her  mother  before  her, 
and  who  for  some  years,  up  to  the  last  five  years,  had 
been  confined  to  her  bed  with  them  nearly  one  quarter  of 
the  time,  sometimes  for  three  or  four  weeks  at  a  time,  for 
the  last  five  years  is  only  troubled  when  she  breaks  her 
rules  of  diet,  and  then  is  relieved  in  a  few  hours  by 


HOW  TO  TREAT  HI.  ACHES. 


321 


medicines  which  she  keeps  by  her.  Her  case  is  only 
extraordinary  in  its  severity  and  in  the  length  of  time 
it  had  been  endured. 

The  importance  of  living  philosophically  in  cases  of 
headache  from  over-heated  blood,  has  been  impressed 
on  me  by  my  own  experience,  having  been  subject  to 
them  from  my  earliest  recollection  till  the  age  of  fifty, 
and  having  frequently  been  obliged  to  remain  in  bed  for 
a  whole  day  in  excruciating  suffering ;  and  now  living 
as  nearly  as  possible  according  to  the  laws  of  life,  I  have 
not  for  some  years  felt  a  twinge  of  headache  that  I 
remember;  and  for  fourteen  years  have  been  exempt 
except  as  a  direct  penalty  for  some  indulgence  in  extra 
carbonaceous  food. 

In  such  cases  it  would  seem  to  be  but  justice  that  we 
should  suffer  without  the  means  of  relief,  till  we  had 
paid  the  full  penalty  for  our  transgressions,  and  by  our 
sufferings  should  be  compelled  to  obey  the  laws  of  life. 
But  if  our  heavenly  Father,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  has 
furnished  us  the  means  of  relieving  even  the  sufferings 
caused  directly  by  our  transgressions,  it  is  certainly  right 
that  we  should  avail  ourselves  of  them  ;  and  I  therefore 
will  explain  the  means  of  relief  in  the  different  forms  of 
headache,  —  not  with  a  view  to  induce  any  one  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  laws  of  disease,  and  the  various  con- 
siderations which  vary  the  treatment  so  that  no  two 
chronic  cases  are  to  be  treated  alike,  to  attempt  to 
cure  themselves  of  chronic  or  long-standing  headache 
of  either  kind.  This  can  be  done  only  by  a  home- 
opathic physician  of  good  judgment  and  skill.  But 
21 


322         HEADACHE  INDUCED  BY  INDIGESTION. 

temporary  relief  in  most  cases  can  be  obtained  by 
studying  the  following  suggestions  i  — 

How  to  relieve  Headache  induced  hy  Indigestion, 
That  which  will  relieve  indigestion  will  relieve  the 
pains  induced  by  it ;  and  accordingly  we  find  that  head- 
aches, when  accompanied  with  constipation,  will  be  re- 
lieved by  coUinsonia  or  hydrastes,  and  if  connected  with 
foul  tongue,  pains  in  the  stomach  and  bowels,  or  oppres- 
sion from  flatulence,  nux  will  afford  relief  in  constitutions 
to  which  nux  is  adapted  by  temperament,  &c.  ;  otherwise, 
Pulsatilla  or  hydrastes.  If  the  right  remedy  be  found, 
in  those  who  are  subject  to  attacks  of  headache  it  will 
afford  relief  very  soon,  often  by  a  single  dose  if  taken 
at  first;  but  at  most  two  or  three  doses,  taken  every 
hour,  will  be  all  that  is  required  in  the  worst  cases. 

I  know  very  many  cases  of  persons  subject  to  attacks 
of  sick  headache,  which  comes  from  indigestion,  who  had 
previously  been  obliged  to  spend  the  whole  day  in  bed, 
who,  by  taking  a  single  dose,  or  at  most,  two  doses  of 
nux,  when  the  first  symptoms  are  felt,  soon  forget  their 
headache,  and  keep  about  their  business  as  usual ;  and 
so  reliable  are  its  effects,  that  no  time  has  been  lost  for 
months  or  years,  w^hereas,  before  resorting  to  this  means 
of  relief,  hours  were  lost  every  month  from  it.  Other 
articles  are  best  adapted  to  other  cases,  of  which  any 
good  homeopathic  physician  can  judge;  and  I  have 
come  firmly  to  believe  there  is  no  such  thing  as  in- 
curable headache  from  indigestion. 


'   HEADACHE  FROM  OVER-HEATED  BLOOD.  323 

How  to  cure  Headache  induced  hy  over-heated  Blood. 

Here,  too,  we  must  q)ply  common  sense  to  general 
principles.  That  which  will  cure  inflammations  which 
are  induced  by  over-heated  blood  will  cure  headaches 
from  the  same  cause;  accordingly,  when  headache  is 
accompanied  with  flushed  face,  and  a  sense  of  pressure, 
and  fulness  and  throbbing  of  the  blood  vessels,  aconite 
always  gives  relief.  And  cold  water  applied  directly 
to  the  head,  or,  what  is  more  philosophical  and  more 
effectual,  applied  to  the  throat,  so  as  to  cool  the  blood 
of  the  arteries  as  it  passes  very  near  the  surface,  — 
and  this  last  is  an  important  suggestion,  not  only  in 
common  congestive  headaches  but  in  all  headaches  ac- 
companied with  fever,  —  a  cold  compress  to  the  throat 
affords  much  more  effectual  relief  than  if  apiJied  di- 
rectly to  the  head  ;  but  there  is  no  harm,  in  severe  cases, 
in  making  both  appliances. 

How  to  treat  Nervous  Headaches. 

Headaches  usually  denominated  nervous  are  gener- 
ally neuralgic,  and  are  to  be  treated  upon  the  same 
principles  and  with  the  same  remedies  as  neuralgia, 
whether  induced  by  cold  or  induced  by  and  connected 
with  derangement  of  the  digestive  organs ;  and  there- 
fore no  distinctive  treatment  can  be  given,  except  such 
as  has  been  referred  to  under  neuralgia,  headaches  from 
indigestion,  and  from  over-heated  blood.  For  doubtful 
cases  it  is  safest  to  consult  a  physician. 


524 


HOMEOPATHIC  MEDICINES. 


HOMEOPATHIC  MEDICINES. 

Our  ailments,  in  a  temperate  climate,  in  which  we 
have  a  cold  and  a  warm  season,  may  be  comprised  in  the 
foregoing  list ;  and,  as  far  as  they  can  be  supposed  to  be 
understood  by  intelligent  mothers,  can  be  as  well  treated 
by  the  list  of  about  twenty  remedies  as  by  the  three 
or  four  hundred  that  have  been  tested  :  for  to  those  who 
do  not  make  medicine  a  professional  study,  the  larger 
the  number  to  select  from,  the  more  doubt  as  to  which 
is  the  right  one.  And  a  small  list  of  remedies,  by 
considering  the  leading  and  characteristic  symptoms 
which  each  is  adapted  to  cure,  can  be  varied  to  suit 
different  symptoms  as  they  come  up.  To  assist  in 
making  such  variation  in  practice,  I  will  give  the  lead- 
ing peculiarities  of  each  of  the  twenty  medicines  re- 
ferred to,  as  they  have  been  developed  by  provings, 
and  as  these  provings  have  been  corroborated  by  thou- 
sands of  cases  in  which  they  have  been  used. 

First,  however,  let  me  refer  to  an  interesting  fact, 
showing  the  same  Providential  care  in  adapting  medi- 
cines to  each  particular  climate  as  that,  to  which  I  have 
elsewhere  referred,  in  adapting  food  to  the  wants  of 
each  climate.  As  in  cold  climates,  where  more  heat 
is  required,  more  oil  and  starch  are  furnished  in  the 
meats  and  the  grains,  producing,  with  other  heating 
materials,  more  inflammations  and  inflammatory  fevers 


VIRTUES  OF  MEDICINES. 


325 


than  less  heating  food,  so  in  the  same  climate  are 
furnished  the  medical  plants  best  adapted  to  cure 
these  inflammations.  Aconite,  bryonia,  belladonna, 
&c.,  the  articles  on  which  we  mostly  depend  for  the 
cure  of  these  diseases,  grow  in  northern  regions 
only;  while  nux  vomica,  colocynth,  and  gelseminum, 
which  are  adapted  to  relieve  the  diseases  induced  in 
warm  climates  and  warm  weather,  grow  only  in  warm 
climates. 

Aconite  is  found  in  the  mountainous  regions  of 
the  north  of  Europe  and  America;  bryonia,  also, 
in  Northern  Europe ;  and  belladonna  is  a  common 
weed  in  the  Northern  American  States.  Gelseminum, 
^  which  is  adapted  to  the  fevers  of  warm  weather,  as 
aconite  is  to  cold,  grows  only  in  the  Southern  States, 
and  nux  and  colocynth  only  in  India.  And  when  the 
materia  medica  is  more  nearly  perfected  (we  have  not 
yet  had  time  to  perfect  it  since  we  found  the  key  by  ^ 
which  to  unlock  Nature's  medical  treasures) ,  we  shall 
probably  find  that  every  climate  in  which  man  can  live 
is  furnished  with  its  own  remedies,  suflScient  to  cure 
all  the  diseases  and  relieve  all  the  pains  to  which  its 
inhabitants  are  subject. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  remedies  to  which  I 
have  referred,  and  the  leading  symptoms  which  each 
is  adapted  to  relieve.  It  will  be  seen  that,  while  many 
of  the  remedies  have  symptoms  in  common  with  others, 
every  one  has  some  symptoms  peculiar  to  itself;  and 
this  .is  found  to  be  true  with  regard  to  every  article  of 
medicine  that  has  yet  been  proved. 


326 


VIRTUES  OF  MEDICINES. 


Aconite 

Produces,  and  therefore  will  cure,  acute  local  inflam- 
mations ;  fevers  of  an  inflammatory  character ;  conges- 
tion, or  sense  of  fulness  of  the  lungs,  or  head,  or  any 
other  organ;  neuralgia  or  rheumatism,  or  any  other 
sharp  pains,  with  or  without  swelling;  thirst,  and 
flushed  face,  with  dry  skin ;  sleeplessness  and  restless- 
ness ;  dryness  of  the  mouth  and  tongue ;  loss  of  appe- 
tite, and  sense  of  oppression  and  lassitude,  with  a 
feeling  of  general  repletion  and  uneasiness.. 

Arsenicum. 

Extreme  weakness  and  debility  ;  emaciation  ;  sinking 
of  the  strength ;  coldness  of  the  feet  and  hands ;  and 
the  pains,  and  fevers,  and  restless  sleeplessness  which 
accompanies  the  foregoing  symptoms.  Also  many 
diseases  of  the  skin ;  but  these  can  only  be  judiciously 
prescribed  for  by  an  experienced  physician. 

Belladonna^ 

Startings  of  the  limbs  ;  convulsions  ;  loss  of  conscious- 
ness ;  red  swellings  of  the  tonsils ;  redness  of  the  skin, 
and  scarlet  eruptions  ;  boring  and  stinging  of  the  skin ; 
cono-estion  or  inflammation  of  the  eyes,  and  pain  in  the 
eyeballs  or  back  of  the  eyes  ;  delirium  ;  dizziness  ;  con- 
fusion of  mind  ;  headache  over  the  eyes,  and  throbbing 
pain  in  the  temples ;  cohc  pains ;  bright  red  tongue, 
and  burning  in  the  mouth  and  throat. 


VIRTUES  OF  MEDICINES. 


327 


«  Baptisia. 

Sense  of  prostration  of  the  whole  system  —  soreness 
of  the  flesh  on  pressure  ;  incapable  of  making  exertions  ; 
pains  are  increased  by  motion  and  relieved  by  rest; 
hands,  arms,  and  legs  tremulous ;  bloated,  distended 
feeling  about  the  eyes  ;  burning  heat  of  the  face ;  pro- 
fuse flow  of  saliva ;  throat  feels  swollen,  but  is  not ; 
tickling  in  the  throat  provoking  cough ;  sense  of  tight- 
ness about  the  chest;  dull,  heavy  pains  in  the  back; 
aching  of  the  limbs,  with  sense  of  weariness. 

Bryonia. 

Sharp  pains  in  the  side,  aggravated  by  breathing; 
stiffness,  and  pain,  and  swelling  in  the  joints  ;  trembling 
of  the  limbs  when  at  rest ;  pains  aggravated  by  motion 
or  contact,  relieved  by  rest ;  jarring  headache,  as  if  the 
brain  were  loose,  aggravated  by  stooping ;  white  coating 
on  the  tongue ;  pressure  in  the  stomach  after  eating ; 
cough,  with  soreness  of  the  chest,  either  dry  or  loose ; 
painful  stiffness  of  the  nape  of  the  neck ;  pains  in  the 
back  and  limbs,  with  soreness  and  stiffness. 

Cantharides. 

This  medicine  has  a  specific  effect  on  the  urinary 
organs,  as  in  old  school  practice  I  had  frequent  proof. 
Blisters  applied  to  any  part  of  the  body  frequently  pro- 
duce irritation  of  these  organs,  with  painful  micturition. 
For  all  such  irritations  this  medicine  will  afford  relief 
in  homeopathic  doses. 


328 


VIRTUES  OF  MLDICINES. 


Chamoinilla.  . 

A  medicine  particularly  adapted  to  infants  and  small 
children,  for  irritability,  restlessness,  constant  crying, 
and  the  thousand  and  one  little  ills  that  come  with  the 
process  of  teething.  Given  occasionally  it  has  great 
influence,  but  given  too  frequently  it  loses  its  influence. 

Colocynth, 

For  all  colics,  cramps,  griping  pains,  especially  of 
the  stomach  and  bowels. 

CoUinsonia. 

Constipation,  with  the  diseases  produced  by  it,  and 
all  painful  diseases  of  the  bowels  and  urinary  organs. 

Gelseminom. 

This  medicine  takes  the  place  of  aconite,  in  the  cure 
of  fevers,  inflammations,  pains,  and  nervous  symptoms, 
with  this  distinctive  difference  :  aconite  is  adapted  to 
active  diseases  of  cold  weather,  gelseminum  to  the  less 
active  diseases  of  warm  weather.  It  is  also  very  useful 
in  nervous  prostration  and  partial  paralysis,  especially 
for  those  symptoms  occurring  with  diphtheria. 

Hepar  Sulphur. 

Croupy  affections,  or  hoarseness  and  sense  of  suffo- 
cation;  itching  diseases  of  the  skin,  with  pimples  or 
sores  ;  suppurating  wounds,  which  heal  tardily,  with 
unhealthy  acrid  discharges. 


VIRTUES  OF  MEDICINES. 


329 


Hydrastes, 

Inflammations  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  hose, 
eyes,  mouth,  throat,  or  lower  organs ;  aphthous  or  can- 
kery  spots  in  the  mouth,  especially  of  children ;  weak- 
ness of  stomach,  and  incipient  indigestion;  mucous 
discharges  from  any  part  of  the  mucous  membrane. 

Hippoeastanum. 

Cold  in  the  head,  with  stupefying  pain  in  the  head, 
and  watery  discharges  from  nose  and  eyes ;  pains  in  the 
bowels,  very  low  ;  and  all  painful  diseases  of  the  lower 
abdominal  organs,  with  pain  in  the  back;  constipation 
and  piles. 

Ipecacnanha. 

Sickness  at  stomach,  and  vomiting,  with  dizziness ; 
asthmatic  breathing,  and  wheezing  cough ;  bleeding 
from  the  lungs,  stomach,  or  bowels;  yellowness  of 
the  skin. 

Mercnrius  Corrosivus, 

Ulcerated  condition  of  mouth  and  throat ;  swelling 
and  tenderness  of  the  gums ;  profuse  salivation,  or 
watery  discharge  from  the  glands  of  the  mouth ;  canker 
sores  ;  bloody  discharges  with  pain,  as  in  dysentery. 

Hfux  Vomiea. 

Next  to  aconite,  there  is  no  medicine  yet  proved  that 
relieves  so  great  a  variety  of  distressing  symptoms  as 
nux  vomica.  Its  influence  seems  to  be  mainly  through 
the  brain  and  nervous  system  ;  and  in  different  forms 


330 


VIRTUES  OF  MEDICINES. 


and  applications,  which  the  physician  only  can  under 
stand,  it  relieves  symptoms  of  apparently  opposite  char- 
acter, as  violent  spasms  and  paralysis.  For  domestic 
use  it  would  be  serviceable  in  indigestion,  colics, cramp, 
and  neuralgia ;  but  for  other  diseases,  other  remedies  are 
more  reliable,  for  non-professional  practitioners. 

Phytolacca. 

This  medicine  has  great  influence  on  the  glandular 
system,  and  especially  on  the  breasts.  It  is  useful  in  all 
swellings  of  the  glands  of  any  part  of  the  system.  In 
large  doses,  often  repeated,  it  carries  off  the  flesh  by 
absorption ;  in  small  doses  it  tends  to  restore  lost  flesh. 
It  is  valuable  in  diphtheria,  and  in  dull  white  or  gray 
swelling  of  the  mouth  or  throat.  And  within  the  last 
few  years,  since  scarlet  fever  is  accompanied  with  this 
diphtherious  kind  of  inflammation,  phytolacca,  to  a  great 
extent,  takes  the  place  of  belladonna  in  the  treatment 
of  it. 

Podophylon. 

Yellowness  of  the  skin  and  eyes,  indicating  obstruc- 
tions in  the  liver;  sleepiness  and  tired  feeling,  with 
dizziness  and  headache  ;  offensive  breath,  and  copious 
flow  of  saliva ;  nausea  and  throbbing  at  the  stomach ; 
pains  in  the  region  of  the  liver ;  diarrhoea,  and  forcing 
pains. 

Pulsatilla. 

Peculiarly  adapted  to  the  ailments  and  pains  to  which 
the  female  constitution  is  subject ;  and  to  the  hysterical 
and  nervous  irregularities,  as  well  as  the  painful  ob- 
structions, to  which  that  sex  alone  is  subject. 


ERRORS  IN  THE  USE  OF  MEDICINES.  331 


Sticta  Pulmonaria. 

Pains  in  the  bones ;  darting  pains  in  the  arms  and 
legs,  with  sense  of  fulness  about  the  nose,  indicating 
an  approaching  cold;  burning  of  the  eyes  and  eyelids, 
with  sharp,  darting  pains  about  the  head ;  cough,  with 
soreness  of  lungs,  tickling  in  the  throat,  and  raising 
specks  of  blood. 

Tartarized  Antimony. 

Cough,  with  great  prostration,  difficulty  of  breathing, 
constriction  of  the  chest,  expectoration  of  bloody  mat- 
ter; excessive  vomiting,  with  great  exhaustion,  and 
cramps  df  the  stomach. 

Veratram. 

Veratrum  is  useful  in  diseases  of  weakness  and  de- 
pression, with  cold  feet  and  hands ;  but  its  principal  use 
in  domestic  practice  is  for  painless,  watery  diarrhoea  af 
children  in  summer. 

Errors  in  the  Use  of  Medicines. 

In  using  homeopathic  medicines,  two  or  three  errors 
are  to  be  guarded  against.  It  is  a  common  and  natural 
feeling  that  if  a  certain  amount  of  medicine  is  expected 
to  cure  a  disease  in  a  given  time,  say  twenty-four 
hours,  twice  the  amount  will  cure  it  in  twelve  hours ; 
and  medicine  is  given  too  often,  if  not  in  too  larg^ 
doses.     Beyond  the  amount  necessary  to  effect  the 


332  ERRORS  IN  THE  USE  OF  MEDICINES. 


cure,  all  medicine  is  injurious,  and  often  produces  and 
increases  unpleasant  symptoms.  Another  error  con- 
sists in  continuing  medicine  too  long.  As  a  rule,  it 
^should  be  given  less  and  less  often  as  the  symptoms 
subside,  and  be  stopped  when  they  are  removed,  other- 
wise new  symptoms  are  induced  or  old  ones  renewed. 
With  these  precautions,  the  cure  of  any  disease  may 
be  hastened,  without  any  possible  harm,  by  home- 
opathic medicine.  If  in  doubt  on  this  point,  take  two 
children  with  colds  alike,  and  give  to  one  medicine  as 
directed,  and  trust  the  other  to  Nature,  with  the  same 
diet  and  care  in  other  respects,  and  the  one  that  takes 
the  medicine  will  require  less  than  half  the  time  to  get 
well  as  the  other. 


WHAT  IS  SUN-STKOKE? 


333 


WHAT  IS  SUN-STEOKE? 

The  alarming  number  of  deaths  reported  as  from 
sun-stroke  at  every  heated  period  makes  it  important 
to  understand  the  cause  of  these  deaths  and  the  means 
of  preventing  them.  To  "explain  it  intelligibly,  we 
must  revert  to  that  beautiful  chemico-vital  principle 
explained  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  178  to  183, 
by  which  the  temperature  of  the  body,  in  all  external 
temperatures,  and  all  degrees  of  exercise ;  in  sickness 
and  health,  is  kept  at  nearly  the  same  point,  seldom 
varying  more  than  one  or  two  degrees  from  98,  and 
never  having  been  known  to  vary  only  from  96.5  to 
102,  this  being  the  utmost  range  of  variation  in  which 
life  can  be  sustained.  This  regulation  of  temperature 
is  effected  by  the  evaporation  of  perspiration  from  the 
surface  of  the  body,  according  to  the  law  of  Nature, 
instituted  probably  for  the  very  purpose,  that  evapora- 
tion produces  cold.  If  a  bottle  of  wine,  or  any  other 
liquid,  be  covered  with  a  wet  cloth,  and  placed  in  a 
draught  of  air,  the  drying  of  the  cloth  abstracts  the  heat 
from  the  liquid,  and  thus  under  the  equator  can  be  had 
drinks  almost  as  cool  as  ice-water.  This  effect  we  also 
experience  in  sitting  in  a  draught  of  air,  in  the  cold  we 
catch.  By  the  same  process,  by  a  vital  power  which 
cannot  be  explained,  a  similar  evaporation  is  constantly 


334 


WHAT  IS  SUN-STROKE? 


kept  up  on  the  surface  of  th§  body,  to  carry  off  the 
surplus  heat  that  is  generated  within.  If  the  weather 
is  cold,  and  we  keep  still  so  as  not  to  generate  much 
heat,  no  surplus  being  generated,  and  no  evaporation 
necessary,  the  pores  of  the  skin  are  closed,  and  no 
moisture  being  on  the  surface,  no  evaporation  takes 
place ;  but  if  the  weather  be  warm,  and  we  have  vio- 
lent exercise  to  generate  heat  rapidly,  the  pores  are 
open,  and  perspiration  oozes  through  them  to  just  the 
extent  necessary  to  abstract  the  extra  heat  as  it  is  gen- 
erated. The  amount  of  drink  required  to  supply  this 
evaporation  is  of  course  proportionate  to  the  heat  and 
the  exercise,  and  the  sense  of  thirst  indicates  what  is 
needed. 

If  this  natural  process  is  not  interfered  with,  and  the 
wants  of  Nature  are  supplied,  we  can  endure  almost  any 
amount  of  external  heat,  even  that  sufficient  to  cook 
meat,  as  in  the  examples  given  in  Philosophy  of  Eating, 
page  181,  the  evaporation  in  these  cases  carrying  off 
the  heat  to  this  astonishing  degree  ;  but  if  the  pores  of 
the  skin  were  obstructed  or  closed  in  such  cases,  death 
would  ensue  immediately  ;  or  if  the  supply  of  perspira- 
tion were  deficient,  or  the  vital  power  exhausted,  so 
that  the  perspiration  could  not  be  kept  up,  the  internal 
temperature  rising  only  three  or  four  degrees  above  98, 
death  ensues  immediately. 

Now  in  cases  of  death  from  sun-stroke,  one  of  four 
things  must  be  the  immediate  cause  of  it :  —  the  pores 
of  the  skin  are  closed,  so  as  to  stop  perspiration  ;  or  the 
supply  of  drink  is  not  sufficient  to  support  the  requisite 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  SUN-STROKE.  335 

perspiration ;  or  the  vital  powers  are  exhausted,  so  as  ' 
«*rnot  to  be  able  to  carry  on  the  process  of  perspiration  to  ^ 
the  extent  necessary  to  keep  down  the  internal  tempera- 
ture ;  or  the  temperature  is  suddenly  brought  below  96^ 
by  cold  drinks.    In  either  of  these  contingencies,  the 
internal  temperature  rises  to  102^  or  104^,  or  sinks  below 
96^,  and  we  are  gone  at  once.    Facts  obtained  from  the 
intelligent  agent  of  the  Metropolitan  Horse  Railroad 
Company  corroborate  the  theory  explained  above.  For- 
merly, in  hot  seasons,  they  lost  every  year  very  many 
horses,  all  dying  suddenly,  and  with  similar  premoni- 
tory symptoms.    The  first  noticeable  change  was,  that 
they  stopped  sweating;  then  soon,  if  kept  at  work, 
they  would  falter,  and  fall  down  and  die.    These  sud- 
den deaths  were  sometimes  induced  by  drinking  cold 
water,  with  the  same  results,  unless  the  heat  could  be 
^    soon  raised  again,  by  warm  drinks,  &c.    Seeing  this 
effect  of  water,  and  not  realizing  that  it  was  the  cold  and 
not  the  water  that  produced  this  fatal  effect,  the  horses 
were  allowed  but  little  water;  and  this  increased  the 
danger.     They  have  lately  changed  their  treatment, 
giving  them  all  the  water  they  will  drink,  of  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air  at  the  time;  and  during  the  last 
uncommonly  hot  season,  in  which  hundreds  of  horses 
and  men  have  died  under  similar  circumstances,  they 
have  not,  of  their  eight  hundred  horses,  lost  a  single 
one.    When  a  tired  horse,  in  a  hot  day,  is  seen  to  stop 
sweating,  they  take  him  out  of  the  harness,  sponge^he 
skin  with  water  not  too  cold,  cover  him  with  a  blanket, 
and  give  him  warm  water,  —  that  is,  water  that  has 


336  SUN-STROKE. 

Stood  for  some  time  in  the  open  air,  —  and  he  always 
recovers  ;  and  when  the  weather  is  very  hot,  they  drive*, 
very  slowly,  so  as  not  to  heat  their  blood. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  clew  to  the  cause,  as  before 
described,  and  an  intimation  of  the  means  of  prevent- 
ing and  curing  this  fatal  malady. 

I  have  also  obtained  some  facts,  which  tend  to  the 
same  conclusions,  from  the  habits  of  firemen  in  fur- 
naces, glass-houses,  and  steamboats.    From  the  late 
surgeon  of  the  Pacific  steamships  I  learn  that  the  fire- 
men work  over  the  fire  in  an  atmosphere,  on  an  average, 
of  forty  degrees  higher  than  the  temperature  of  the 
blood.    To  keep  the  heat  of  the  blood  down  to  the 
point  at  which  life  can  be  sustained,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, requires  an  amount  of  perspiration  and  an 
amount  of  drink  perfectly  enormous.    To  sustain  this 
exhausting  process  they  formerly  used  switchel, —molas- 
ses and  water,  —  sometimes  with  a  little  vinegar.  Under 
the  use  of  that  drink  they  were  subject  to  distressing 
colics,  or  cramps,  and  not  knowing  what  produced 
them,  the  surgeon  introduced,  instead  of  the  switchel, 
water  in  which  had  been  stirred  barley,  corn  or  oat- 
meal ;  and  from  that  time  they  endured  the  heat  much 
better;  and  never  afterwards  had  the  cramps  or  colics. 
I  learn,  also,  that  in  most  of  the  iron  and  glass  making 
establishments  in  Europe  where  firemen  are  thus  ex- 
posed, they  drink  as  much  as  they  please  of  oatmeal  or 
barley  water,  prepared  as  before  suggested,  and  they 
endure  their  exhausting  labor  in  the  enjoyment  of  ex- 
cellent health. 


HOW  TO  PREVENT  SUN-STROKE.  337 

In  other  similar  establishments  they  drink  freely  of 
pure  water,  of  the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere ;  but 
wherever  they  use,  in  the  enormous  quantities  neces- 
sary, beer  or  switchel,  or  any  other  drinks  containing 
carbonaceous  or  heating  principles,  they  are  subject  to 
pains  and  other  difficulties. 

Means  of  preventing;  and  curing  Sun-stroke. 

From  the  foregoing  suggestions,  it  is  safe  to  infer 
that,  as  a  preventive  of  the  disease  called  sun-stroke, 
—  although  the  sun  has  evidently  nothing  to  do  with  it 
directly,  —  under  any  exhausting  exercise,  in  any  tem- 
perature, a  free  use  of  pure  water  at  the  temperature 
of  the  atmosphere,  or  water  in  which  is  infused  the  life 
and  strength-giving  elements  found  in  the  meal  of  all 
unbolted  grains,  avoiding  any  very  cold  drinks,  should 
be  indulged  in.  And  in  case  of  attack,  warm  and 
stimulating  drinks,  with  sponging  and  gentle  friction 
of  the  skin,  and  perfect  rest  of  the  muscles,  as  the 
best  means  of  recovery. 

Seeing  the  evil  effects  of  cold  water, — which  are  only 
worse  than  other  drinks  because  more  of  it  is  usually 
taken;  —  and  supposing  the  evil  to  come  from  the  water 
and  not  from  the  cold,  men  exposed  to  excessive  heat 
are  apt  to  take  too  little  liquids  to  sustain  the  perspi- 
ration, and  that  causes  the  very  evil  which  they  wdsh 
to  avoid.  The  cold  only  is  to  be  avoided,  as  it  is 
that  which  produces  a  chill  or  shock  to  the  vital  or- 
gans, in  which  the  stomach  comes  in  contact,  suddenly 
22 


338 


CAUSE  OF  SUN-STROKE. 


Stopping  the  vital  action,  and  reducing  the  emperature 
of  the  blood  below  the  point  at  which  life  can  be  sus- 
tained. 

The  Predisposing  Causes  of  Sun-stroke. 

I  find,  on  inquiry,  that  the  horses  which  fall  down 
and  die  in  hot  days  are  never  lean  and  shabby  ones,  but 
always  the  fattest ;  and  the  men  who  die  of  sun-stroke 
are  those  who  live  on  carbonaceous  and  stimulating 
food,  generally  also  heating  their  blood  with  alcoholic 
stimulants,  and  have  not  enough  of  the  nitrogenous  or 
phosphatic  elements  to  give  power  to  sustain  any  ex- 
hausting influence.  In  such  men  molasses  and  water 
only  increase  the  heat  of  the  blood,  without  giving 
recuperative  power  to  sustain  it ;  but  the  water  diffused 
in  meal  takes  up  only  nitrogenous  and  phosphatic  ele- 
ments, the  starch  not  being  soluble  in  cold  water,  and 
from  it  is  obtained  power  to  sustain  the  exhausting  influ- 
ence of  the  perspiration  ;  and  where  this  influence  is  long 
continued,  such  drink  must  be  of  essential  service. 

Fat  horses  and  fat  men  suffer  more  than  lean  ones, 
because  the  adipose  covering,  being  a  non-conductor, 
retains  the  heat,  and  renders  the  perspiration  less  effec- 
tual. This  can  be  understood  by  reference  to  the  pro- 
cess of  cooling  drinks  by  evaporation,  as  in  the  cases 
referred  to.  If,  instead  of  applying  the  wet  cloth  di- 
rectly to  the  bottle  of  drink,  it  were  first  enveloped  in 
flannel,  with  the  wet  cloth  over  that,  the  effect  of  evap- 
oration would  be  greatly  diminished.  From  this  we  may 
infer  that  fat  men  should  keep  still  in  hot  weather. 


GOUT. 


339 


GOUT:  ITS  CAUSE  AND  JURE. 

In  the  chapters  on  general  inflammations  and  neural- 
gia, we  have  seen  that  the  predisposing  cause  of  inflam- 
mations and  pains  is  carbonaceous  food,  heating,  as  it 
does,  the  blood,  the  internal  organs,  and  the  nerves,  as 
the  fire  of  a  steamboat  heats  the  combustible  materials 
around  the  boiler,  and  renders  them  more  susceptible 
to  ignition.  This  illustration  is  particularly  applicable 
to  the  gout,  which  is  eminently  painful  and  inflamma- 
tory ;  and  it  is  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  subjects  for 
the  gout  are  generally  fat,  and  live  high^  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  English  and  American  acceptation  of 
that  term,  means  that  their  food  is  greatly  composed 
of  butter,  fat,  starch,  and  sugar,  in  which,  as  we  have 
seen  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  18,  are  only  the 
heat-producing  elements,  without  either  strength-giving 
principles  for  the  muscles,  or  food  for  the  brain  and 
nerves.  But  there  are  some  peculiarities  of  the  gout 
which  distinguish  it  from  all  other  inflammatory 
diseases. 

One  exciting  cause  of  gout  is  violent,  exciting,  or 
long-continued  mental  action  —  an  exciting  cause  of 
no  other  inflammatory  disease ;  at  least  the  eflTects  are 
peculiar  to  gout,  and  the  disease  is  accompanied  with 
peculiar  irritability  of  mind,  irascibility  of  temper,  and 


340 


GOUT. 


frequently  with  deposits  of  certain  effete  matter  as  it 
passes  from  the  system.  Let  us  see  if  these  peculiari- 
ties are  not  susceptible  of  explanation. 

What  physical  effect  on  the  system  is  produced  bj 
violent,  exciting,  or  long-continued  mental  action,  such 
as  induces  gout? 

In  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  87,  it  is  shown  that 
one  twelfth  of  the  solid  matter  of  the  brain  is  phospho- 
rus, which  is  combined  with  other  mineral  principles, 
the  most  important  of  which  is  soda;  and  that  the 
amount  of  phosphorus  varies  in  different  brains  accord- 
ing to  mental  capacity,  children  and  idiots  having  less 
than  half  as  much  as  men  of  common  intellects. 

It  is  also  shown  that  this  phosphorus  is  used  up  in 
thinking,  and  in  any  mental  exercise,  and  thrown  from 
the  system  as  effete  matter,  just  as  nitrogen  is  used  up 
and  thrown  off  in  working  the  muscles  —  clergymen 
excreting  more  phosphorus  on  Monday  than  any  other 
day  of  the  week,  and  lawyers  excreting  more  after 
court  days  than  at  any  other  time* 

The  Want  of  Phosphorus  the  Cause  of  Gout. 

Assuming,  then,  that  the  want  of  phosphorus  in  the 
system  is  the  cause  of  the  characteristic  symptoms  which 
distinguish  gout  from  other  inflammatory  diseases,  we 
have  a  rational  explanation  of  all  their  phenomena,  and 
a  theory  of  prevention  and  cure,  corroborated  by  the 
experience  and  observation  of  those  who  are  best  ac- 
quainted with  the  disease. 


GOUT. 


Ml 


Phosphorus  not  only  promotes  the  action  of  the  brain, 
and  produces  mental  activity  and  power,  but  it  pro- 
motes the  action  of  the  muscles,  and  is  the  source  of 
all  nervous  or  vital  power  and  physical  health  and 
activity.  This  is  seen  in  the  examples  given  in 
Philosophy  of  Eating,  in  which  it  is  proved,  by  analysis, 
that  the  most  active  animals,  birds,  or  fishes  have  most 
phosphorus  in  the  composition  of  their  flesh,  and  require 
most  phosphatic  food  to  sustain  their  activity.  This 
principle  is  also  fully  explained  in  the  first  chapter  of 
this  book,  on  Food  for  Thinking  Men. 

I  have  also  explained,  in  another  chapter,  the  well- 
known  fact  that  nursing  and  expectant  mothers  who 
live  on  carbonaceous  food  suffer  from  excruciating  neu- 
ralgia, toothache,  &c.,  because,  not  taking  phosphorus 
enough  in  food  to  keep  the  nerves  of  the  mother  und 
child  both  in  a  healthy  condition.  Nature  favors  the 
child  at  the  expense  of  the  mother. 

And  here  we  have  a  hint  of  the  cause  of  the  excru- 
ciating pain  accompanying  gout,  and  the  reason  why 
not  only  gouty  people,  but  all  other  fat  people  who  eat 
too  much  carbonaceous  food,  suffer  toothache  and  all 
other  painful  diseases  more  severely  than  those  who 
live  on  natural  food. 


342 


GOUT. 


The  Rationale  of  the  Gout,  and  its  Treatment 

Gouty  people  are  always  such  as  eat  too  large  a 
proportion  of  carbonaceous  food,  either  butter,  or  the 
fat  of  meats,  or  fine  flour,  which  is  mostly  starch,  or 
suo-ar,  or  all  combined  —  and  sometimes  all  at  a  single 
meal.  Of  course  they  get  too  little  phosphorus,  not  a 
particle  of  that  element,  being  found  in  fat,  starch,  or 
sugar,  and  are  strongly  predisposed  to  inflammations 
—  always  keeping  the  timber  hot,  especially  if  to  these 
carbonaceous  and  heating  articles  of  food  are  added  the 
unnatural  stimulus  of  alcoholic  drinks. 

Still,  having  wonderful  powers  of  conforming  to  cir- 
cumstances. Nature  keeps  the  machine  running  com- 
paratively well,  till  some  excitement  of  mind  or  muscle 
exhausts  the  phosphorus  below  the  point  of  endurance, 
and  Nature  cries  out  in  agony  for  more  vitality  and  less 
heat.  The  fuel  being  stopped  the  heat  subsides,  and 
after  a  few  days,  by  heating  up  gradually,  the  machine 
will  work  again,  till  it  is  again  overheated,  and  the 
exciting  cause  again  renewed,  to  go  through  the  same 
agony  and  the  same  process  of  temporary  cure. 

If  the  excitement  which  exhausts  the  phosphorus,  and 
causes  the  fit  of  gout,  be  mental,  the  soda  which  is 
combined  with  phosphorus  in  the  brain  is  set  free,  and, 
uniting  with  uric  acid,  forms  the  urate  of  soda,  which 
constitutes  the  urinary  calculi  and  the  chalky  deposits 
peculiar  to  gout.  And  it  will  probably  be  found  that 
these  deposits  occur  in  gouty  men  of  mental  activity, 


GOUT. 


343 


and  in  fits  of  gout  produced  by  mental  excitement  or 
mental  exhaustion. 

Again  :  gouty  people  are  alv/ays  sedentary  in  their 
habits ;  and  here  we  get  also  a  corroboration  of  the 
theory  that  want  of  phosphorus  is  the  cause  of  gout. 
By  reference  to  the  tables  of  analyses  of  different  arti- 
cles of  food,  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  pages  120-126, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  phosphates  and  nitrates  are  al- 
ways united,  these  articles  containing  the  most  muscle- 
making  food,  which  contain  the  most  phosphorus ;  and 
it  will  be  seen  also  that  those  who  exercise  the  muscles 
most  require  most  nitrogenous  food.  Active  men, 
therefore,  require  and  will  have  more  nitrogenous  food 
than  sedentary  men,  and  with  it  get,  of  course,  more 
phosphorus.  And  this  explains  the  fact  that  laboring 
men  never  have  the  gout. 

The  only  other  peculiarity  of  gout  usually  mentioned 
is,  that  gentlemen,  and  not  ladies,  are  most  subject  to 
it.  But  this,  I  think,  is  equally  true  of  all  inflamma- 
tory diseases,  which  are  induced,  not  only  by  carbona- 
ceous food,  but  by  alcoholic  drinks.  And  the  explana- 
tion is  this  :  gentlemen  "  tarry  long  at  the  wine  "  after 
the  cloth  is  removed  and  the  ladies  are  dismissed. 

Dyspepsia,  derangements  of  the  stomach,  bowels, 
&c.,  are  all  accounted  for  on  the  same  principles,  as 
is  explained  in  the  chapter  on  Dyspepsia,  &c.  My 
belief,  therefore,  is,  that  living  according  to  the  laws 
of  life,  as  explained  in  Philosophy  of  Eating,  no  one, 
however  predisposed  to  it,  will  ever  have  the  gout. 
And  if  living  otherwise  he  gets  into  its  screws,  the 


344 


GOUT. 


quickest  way  to  get  out  of  them  is  first  to  let  off  the 
steam,  not  by  exhausting  medicine,  but  by  stopping 
the  supply  of  fuel,  and  then  restoring  the  nervous  and 
vital  equilibrium,  by  taking,  in  a  form  to  be  relished, 
food  prepared  from  active  fishes,  birds,  or  animals,  with 
bread  or  plain  puddings  from  wheat,  barley,  or  oatmeal, 
with  cheese,  as  it  can  be  well  digested,  and  enough  of 
butter,  or  other  agreeable  carbonates,  to  supply  any 
deficiency  of  fat  in  the  fish  or  lean  meat,  and  to  give 
relish  to  the  food,  and  enough  of  some  agreeable  fruits 
or  vegetables  to  furnish  the  necessary  acids  and  waste 
which  is  wanting  in  cheese. 


ADULTEEATIONS  OF  FOOD. 


345 


ADULTERATIONS  OF  FOOD,  POISON  FEOM 
CULINARY  UTENSILS,  &o. 

Having  been  frequently  requested,  by  letter  and 
verbally,  to  write  a  chapter  on  the  diseases  and  symp- 
toms produced  by  lead,  copper,  zinc,  &c.,  as  they  are 
taken  from  water  pipes,  culinary  vessels,  fruit  cans, 
&c.,  and  used  in  cooking;  and  from  phosphorus,  soda, 
plaster  of  Paris,  &c.,  which  are  used  for  raising  bread, 
adulterating  food,  &c.  ;  and  to  give  some  information 
as  to  the  precautions  necessary  to  avoid  poisons  in  the 
various  ways  in  which  we  are  exposed  to  them,  I  will 
devote  a  few  pages  to  that  important  subject. 

And  in  order  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  evils  thus 
to  be  guarded  against,  I  have  requested  Dr.  S.  Dana 
Hayes,  our  State  Assay er,  whose  professional  duties 
bring  him  in  constant  contact  with  them,  to  give  me 
a  list  of  cases  of  adulterations,  poisoning  from  cooking 
utensils,  &c.,  and  he  has  kindly  furnished  me  the  fol- 
lowing items :  — 

Flour  is  hardly  ever  adulterated,  but  is  frequently 
injured. 

Meals  the  same. 

Butter  often  contains  lard  and  water  in  large  propor- 
tions, and  is  colored. 


346 


COmiON  SOURCES  OF  POISON. 


Lard  sometimes  contains  thirty-three  per  cent,  of 
added  water. 

Sugar  (especially  brown)  is  often  contaminated  with 
iron,  and  thus  colors  tea  or  coffee  brown  or  black. 

Cream  of  Tartar  and  Spices  are  often  adulterated 
with  flour,  meal,  plaster,  ground  tan,  &c. 

Tea  is  seldom  adulterated  here,  but  sometimes  old 
leaves,  that  have  been  used  are  re-dried  and  sold,  mixed 
with  good  tea. 

Coffee  (ground)  is  very  often  impure  and  injured. 

Milh  the  same. 

Wines  are  very  often  made  without  any  grapes. 

Spirits  often  contain  fusil  oil  and  dissolved  metals, 
such  as  copper  and  lead. 

Vinegar  often  contains  copper,  lead,  plaster,  sul- 
phuric acid,  &c. 

Soda  Water  frequently  contains  copper  dissolved. 

Chocolate^  (fie,  generally  pure  and  harmless. 

Culinary  Vessels  often  contaminate  food  with  metal- 
lic poisons. 

Lead  and  Zinc  (galvanized)  Water  Pipes  are  fre- 
quently dissolved  by  drinking-water  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  become  honey-combed.  The  presence  of  two 
different  metals  in  water,  tea,  coffee,  beer,  &c.,  or 
the  boiling  or  standing  of  such  liquids  in  vessels  made 
of  two  kinds  of  metal,  and  of  joints  in  pipes,  give  rise 
to  o-alvanic  action,  and  the  solution  of  one  or  both 
metals  in  the  liquids  to  a  dangerous  extent.  This 
galvanic  action  is  far  more  common  than  is  generally 
supposed,  and  a  source  of  much  ill  health. 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  POISONS. 


347 


Arsenic  often  produces  serious  diseases,  the  air  of 
sleeping-rooms  being  impregnated  with  it  from  the 
green  of  paper-hangings ;  and  so  sad  and  manifest 
are  its  effects  from  this  cause,  that  in  France  it  is  a 
criminal  offence,  punishable  by  imprisonment,  to  use 
arsenic  in  coloring  them. 

Bread  raised  with  saleratus  and  cream  of  tartar 
contains  carbonic  acid  and  tartrate  of  soda,  or,  if  sour 
milk  be  used  instead  of  cream  of  tartar,  lactic  of  soda. 

Bread  raised  with  yeast  contains  carbonic  acid  gas  ; 
but  on  being  exposed  to  the  air,  the  gas  is  exchanged 
for  pure  air,  and  nothing  injurious  is  left,  unless  the 
yeast  be  bad. 

Aerated  Bread  contains  nothing  injurious. 

Phosphatic  Breads  or  that  which  is  raised  by  ^  Hors- 
ford's  Self-raising  Bread  Preparation,'  which  is  composed 
of  phosphoric  acid  and  bi-carbonate  of  soda,  contains, 
like  other  raised  bread,  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  also 
phosphate  of  soda,  and  some  phosphate  of  lime/' 

% 

The  EflFects  on  the  System  of  different  Poisons. 

By  accidental  poisonings,  and  by  scores  and  even  hun- 
dreds of  tests  of  the  effects  of  all  poisons  in  small  quan- 
tities, each  test  being  recorded  by  itself,  homeopathic 
physicians  can  tell  what  symptoms  to  expect  and  what 
indeed  are  sure  to  come  from  taking  any  poison.  But 
the  effects  are  in  very  different  degrees  by  different 
individuals;  and  as  an  assistance  to  housekeepers,  to 
determine  whether  their  families  are  receiving  any  poi- 


348 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  POISONS. 


sonous  efFects  from  the  sources  suggested  by  Dr.  Hayes, 
I  will  give  the  prominent  symptoms  produced  on  most 
people,  but  not  on  all,  by  long-continued  influence  from 
them  in  small  doses,  by  each  poison  to  which  he  refers.^ 

Arsenic.  The  prominent  effects  of  arsenic  in  small 
quantities,  as  reported,  are  :  Sudden  excessive  debility, 
burning  internal  pains,  convulsions,  jaundice,  general 
coldness,  sleeplessness,  painful  stinging  ulcers,  blood 
blisters,  startings  and  restlessness,  excessive  anxiety, 
vertigo,  beating  pain  in  the  head,  inflammation  of  the 
eyes,  nausea  and  vomiting,  cutting  colic  pains,  itching 
and  burning  and  painful  eruptions  on  the  skin,  chilli- 
ness, followed  by  fever,  sometimes  periodical,  great 
prostration. 

Iron  is  the  least  poisonous  of  any  of  the  metals  ;  still 
it  does  produce  manifest  effects  on  the  system,  even 
in  small  quantities,  taken  for  a  long  time.  The  most 
prominent  are  :  General  debility  and  emaciation,  a  sense 
of  weariness  and  restlessness,  loss  of  appetite,  nose- 
bleed and  other  hemorrhages,  pains  in  the  chest,  and 
cough ;  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Trous- 
seau, it  develops  tubercles,  and  causes  consumption,  &c. 

Copper.  Pain  in  the  bones,  spasms  or  convulsions, 
epileptic  fits,  nausea  and  vomiting,  painful  sense  of 
suffocation,  ulcers  and  eruptions  on  the  skin,  paleness, 
pressure  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  &c. 

Lead.  Weakness  of  the  limbs,  with  dull,  aching 
pain,  and  partial  or  general  paralysis,  bluish  or  yellow- 
ish paleness  of  the  skin,  drow^siness  in  the  daytime,  but 


SYMPTOMS  PRODUCED  BY  EACH  POISON.  349 

sleeplessness  at  night,  melancholy,  excessive  pain  in 
the  stomach  and  bowels,  with  obstinate  costiveness, 
hoarseness,  and  sense  of  stricture  of  the  throat,  &c. 
^  Tin.  Emaciation,  hysterical  convulsions,  paralysis, 
night  sweats,  burning  heat  in  the  limbs,  inflamed  eye- 
lids, dimness  of  sight,  heaviness  and  stupefying  pressure 
on  the  head,  sunken  eyes,  &c. 

Lime^  as  it  exists  in  plaster  of  Paris,  is  generally 
considered  inert  and  harmless ;  but  in  that  or  any  other 
form,  lime,  in  small  quantities,  continuously  taken, 
produces  rheumatic  pains  in  the  limbs,  swelling  of  the 
bones,  nervous  excitement,  eruptions  on  the  skin,  head- 
ache, dizziness,  yellow  complexion,  toothache,  loss  of 
appetite,  constipation,  dryness  of  the  nose,  palpitation, 
&c. 

Soda  and  Potash.  Constipation,  pains  in  stomach 
and  bowels,  sour  eructations,  -heartburn,  wind,  sense 
of  distention,  indigestion,  &c. ;  in  short,  the  symptoms 
which  they  are  known  to  relieve,  and  for  which  they 
are  so  much  taken.  And  hence  it  is  always  true  of 
these,  and  all  other  crude  medicines,  in  large  doses, 
or  small  doses  often  repeated,  that  those  who  take 
them  to  relieve  certain  symptoms  are  sure  to  need  them 
again  soon ;  and  thus  every  dose  of  any  active  medicine 
creates  a  demand  for  its  repetition. 
#  Zinc.  Tearing  pains  in  the  limbs,  painful  soreness 
of  the  fl^sh,  violent  trembling  of  the  whole  body,  heavi- 
ness and  weariness,  fretfulness  and  peevishness,  dizzi- 
ness, oppressive  headache,  pains  in  the  face,  like 
neuralgia  and  toothache,  burning  at  the  stomach,  pain- 


350        SYMPTOMS  PRODUCED  BY  EACH  POISON. 


ful  tension  of  the  abdomen,  pains  in  the  back,  vom- 
iting, &c. 

Carbonic  Acid  Gas.  Burning  pains  in  the  stomach 
and  bowels,  with  distention  and  flatulence,  constipation 
bitter  taste  in  the  mouth,  water-brash,  heartburn,  rest- 
lessness and  sleeplessness  at  night,  chilliness,  itching 
of  the  skin,  nettlerash,  boils  and  ulcers,  pain  in  the 
head,  with  nausea  or  sick  headache,  sense  of  weakness 
in  the  limbs,  and  the  limbs  go  to  sleep.  Some  or  all 
of  these  symptoms  are  experienced  generally  by  those 
who  eat  newly-made  bread  raised  with  yeast  or  yeast 
powders,  as  the  cells  of  the  bread  are  filled  with  this 
gas;  but  after  standing  in  the  air  for  a  few*hours  the 
gas  is  exchanged  for  pure  air.  And  the  same  troubles 
are  experienced  by  those  who  drink  effervescing  beers, 
or  wines,  or  soda  water,  or  anything  else  that  contains 
this  gas. 

■  Phosphorus  and  Phosphoric  Acid.  Soreness  and 
swelling  of  the  bones  and  joints,  caries,  or  decay  of  the 
bones,  emaciation,  boils  and  itching  ulcers,  fine  rash 
pimples,  yellow  teeth,  hoarseness,  tickling  cough, 
cough  with  purulent  expectorations,  loss  of  voice, 
impotence,  co7isumptwn,  &c.  All  these  symptoms, 
except  those  printed  in  Italics,  and  many  more  dis- 
tressing, have  been  repeatedly  produced  by  taking 
phosphorus,  or  the  acid,  which  produces  the  same  % 
effect,  in  quantities  much  smaller  than  those  taken 
daily  in  bread  from  "Horsford's  Self-raising  Bread 
Preparation  ;  "  and  those  in  Italics,  terminating  in  death 
or  the  destruction  of  the  bones,  have  been  produced  by 


PHOSPHATIC  YEAST  POWDERS  DANGEROUS.  351 

working  in  an  atmosphere  impregnated  with  them  in  a 
match  factory.  The  other  ingredient  in  the  Horsford's 
Self-raising  Bread  Preparation,  according  to  the  label  on 
each  package,  is  pure  bi-carbonate  of  soda,  which, 
according  to  an  established  law,  does  not  neutralize 
the  evil  effects  of  the  phosphorus,  but  adds  to  them 
its  own  deleterious  effects,  some  of  which  are  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Bi-carbonate  of  Soda,  Indigestion,  chronic  debil- 
ity, pressure  at  the  stomach  after  eating,  flatulence, 
distention  of  stomach  and  bowels,  headache,  blotches 
on  the  skin,  toothache,  vertigo,  twitching  in  sleep,  &c., 
which,  being  added  to  the  symptoms  produced  by  phos- 
phoric acid,  will  make  an  imperfect  list  of  the  evils 
which  may  be  expected  from  the  common  use  of  this 
preparation.  - 

Another  fact  that  enhances  the  danger  of  this  "bread 
preparation,"  is,  that  its  principal  elements  are  mineral, 
and,  like  all  other  mineral  elements,  its  poisonous  effects 
are  insidious  and  cumulative;  and,  as  men  will  some- 
times drink  of  water  impregnated  with  lead  for  years 
without  suspecting  danger,  and  then  become  hopelessly 
diseased  by  its  influence,  so  they  may  take  this  more 
deadly  poison  without  suspecting  danger  till  it  is  too 
late  to  escape  death  from  it. 

I  knew  a  young  man  who  worked  for  years  in  a 
match  factory,  without  suspecting  danger,  when  all 
at  once  a  fatal  disease  of  the  lungs  supervened  to 
all  the  symptoms  of  phosphorus,  which  soon  carried 
him  off. 


352  PHOSPHATIC  YEAST  POWDERS. 

And,  what  may  be  considered  a  worse  calamity,  the 
bones  —  especially,  for  reasons  not  yet  understood, 
those  of  the  face  — become  diseased,  and  decay,  pro- 
ducing the  most  loathsome  condition  that  can  be  imag- 
ined. Such  cases  frequently  occur  where  no  danger  was 
suspected  till  too  late. 

The  danger  is  also  enhanced  by  the  position  of  the 
inventor  and  manufacturer.  I  have  known  a  number 
of  instances  in  which  people  have  left  comparatively, 
innocent  modes  of  bread  making,  and  have  taken  up 
this,  because  it  is  recommended  by  a  Professor  of  Har- 
vard College  ;  and  finding  out  their  dangerous  mistake, 
some  have  written  to  the  Professor,  and  explaining  the 
arguments  against  it,  asking  his  explanation. 

His  answer  to  one  intelligent  gentleman  was  sent  to 
me;  but  it  is  mislaid,  and  I  quote  it  from  memory: 

I  have  not  time  to  go  fully  into  the  explanation ;  but 
it  is  suflScient  to  say  that  Liebig,  the  greatest  living 
chemist,  has  taught  nothing  incompatible  with  my 
theory."  The  gentleman  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
explanation,  and  returned,  as  every  sensible  man  would, 
to  his  unleavened  bread,  and  to  that  made  with  fresh 
yeast. 

I  have  read,  I  believe,  all  the  principal  works  of 
Liebig,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  gave  a 
thought  to  the  principle,  which  clearly  explains  the 
ground  of  the  Professor's  terrible  mistake,  viz.,  that 
of  which  Dr.  Hayes  says,  in  the  quotation  before  re- 
ferred to,  "  Modern  investigations  certainly  sustain  the 
ground  taken  (in  the  Philosophy  of  Eating)  that  organ- 


r 

PHOSPHATIC  YEAST  POWDERS.  353 

ized  elements  are  the  only  ones  assimilated  in  the  human 
system." 

If  Liebig  had  gone  into  these  investigations  he  would 
have  seen  at  once  that  phosphorus  obtained  from  cal- 
cined bones  must  be  poisonous,  according  to  the  law 
of  Nature,  which  supplies  this  important  element  only 
organized  in  grains  and  the  flesh  of  animals,  and  makes 
all  other  forms  of  it  poisonous.  The  ground  which  Dr. 
Hayes  says  is  certainly  sustained^  is  this  :  "  Before  the 
mountains  were  brought  forth,"  God  instituted  laws  by 
which  all  the  phosphorus,  and  iron,  and  all  other  ele- 
ments which  were  to  constitute  the  human  system,  or 
should  ever  be  needed  to  keep  it  in  repair,  should  be 
organized  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  should  be 
stored  there,  and  in  the  flesh  of  animals  which  live  on 
vegetables ;  so  that  wherever  man  chooses  to  live,  he 
finds  all  these  elements  prepared  for  him. 

And  to  prevent  us  from  resorting  to  any  other  source 
of  supply,  he  at  the  same  time  instituted  a  law,  making 
it  impossible  that  a  particle  of  them  should  be  assimila- 
ted or  used  in  the  system,  and  making  all  elements  not 
thus  organized  poisons,  more  or  less  virulent  according 
to  their  importance  in  the  system.  Under  this  law 
phosphorus  made  from  calcined  bones  cannot,  of 
course,  be  assimilated;  but  being  one  of  the  most 
important  elements  in  the  system,  is  made  the  most 
virulent  poison. 

Here  the  learned  Professor  joins  issue  with  his 
Maker,  and  under  a  patent  from  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  directly  infringing  on  the  patent 
23 


354 


PHOSPHATIC  YEAST  POWDERS. 


issued  by  the  Government  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  with 
penalties  for  infringement  truly  appalling,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  sows  the  seeds  of  death  among  the  people,  with 
the  following  extraordinary,  not  to  say  false,  statement 
of  facts,  printed  on  every  package  of  his  phosphatic 
bread-raising  powders  :  — 

After  recounting  the  evils  produced  by  soda,  cream 
of  tartar,  and  other  bread-raising  materials,  which  are 
mere  trifles  compared  with  those  produced  by  phospho- 
rus, he  says,  "How  then  shall  we  make  good  bread? 
Professor  Horsford  has  given  to  the  world  a  scientific 
solution  of  this  great  problem  in  domestic  economy ; 
and  the  Self-raising  Bread  Preparation,  manufactured 
under  his  patent  and  direction,  has  met  the  unqualified 
approval  of  every  physician  and  chemist  and  physi- 
ologist who  has  examined  and  tried  it " !  "  It  is  a 
simple  phosphate,  and  nearly  restores  to  the  flour  the 
essential  and  nutritive  properties  removed  with  the 
bran  —  nothing  else  "/ 

These  statements,  made  as  tRey  are  in  the  very  teeth 
of  Divine  testimony,  and  contradicting,  as  they  do,  the 
direct  testimony  of  scientific  men  standing  at  least  as 
high  as  himself,  —  two  of  whom  have  told  him,  to  my 
knowledge,  that  they  considered  his  phosphatic  bread 
preparation  a  poison,  —  certainly  must  deceive  many 
innocent  people,  and  lead  them  into  destruction  of 
health  and  life.  This  fatal  mistake  comes  from  ignor- 
ing the  vital  law,  to  which  chemical  law  is  always  sub- 
servient as  lower  law  to  higher.  The  principle  is 
clearly  recognized  by  Dr.  Hayes,  as  already  quoted. 


PHOSPHATIC  YEAST  POWDERS. 


355 


"  Modern  investigation  certainly  sustains  the  ground 
taken  (in  the  "  Philosophy  of  Eating  that  organized 
elements  only  are  assimilated  in  the  human  system." 
Phosphorus,  therefore,  to  be  assimilated,  must  be  taken 
as  organized  in  natural  food.  If  disorganized,  as  in 
Professor  Horsford's  phosphatic  yeast  powders,  it  is 
poison.  This,  I  assert,  not  only  on  the  authority  of 
nature's  clearly  revealed  law,  but  on  the  authority  of 
every  physiological  chemist,  so  far  as  I  know,  who  re- 
cognizes vital  law  as  superior  to  chemical  law.  On  this 
point  I  can  fiirnish  the  names  of  our  most  eminent  phy- 
siological chemists.  Dr.  J.  Francis  Ohurchill  quotes 
from  Dr.  Buckheim,  a  celebrated  chemist  who  has  giv- 
en particular  attention  to  vital  chemistry,  as  endorsing 
the  opinion  of  four  other  celebrated  German  chemists 
in  regard  to  the  very  form  of  phosphoric  acid  and  soda 
used  in  the  phosphatic  powders  in  question  as  follows: 
"  Woehler  and  Frenich,  basing  their  opinion  as  much 
upon  their  own  experiments  as  upon  those  of  Weigel 
and  Krug,  have  concluded  that  phosphoric  acid  has  a 
poisonous  effect  analogous  to  arsenic."  "  The  same 
also  holds  good  with  the  phosphatic  salts  of  soda."  * 

^  Those  analytical  chemists  who  sustain  Professor  Horsford  in  the  asser- 
tion that  his  preparation  "  nearly  restores  to  the  flour  the  essential  and 
nutritive  properties  removed  with  the  bran,"  entirely  ignore  this  vital  law, 
and  take  for  granted  that  which  every  physiologist  knows  to  be  untrue, 
that  chemical  agents  act  in  the  stomach  as  they  act  in  retorts.  To  sustain 
my  position  I  have  the  promise  of  the  names  of  some  of  our  most  distin- 
guished chemists  and  physiologists  in  this  country,  but  the  press  cannot 
wait,  and  I  must  use  them,  if  necessary,  in  some  other  way. 


356 


GALVANIC  ACTION  ON  METALS. 


GALVANIC  ACTION  PRODUCES  POISON 
FROM  CULINARY  VESSELS. 

That  is  certainly  an  important  fact  referred  to  by 
Dr.  Hayes,  that  galvanic  action  produces  poison  from 
water  pipes  and  culinary  vessels ;  and  its  principles 
ought  to  be  explained,  that  its  evils  may  be  avoided. 
(See  Philosophy  of  Eating,  page  200.)  Let  us  try  to 
explain  the  conditions  necessary  to  produce  this  effect. 

What  produces  galvanic  action?  If  any  one  will 
take  two  small  pieces  of  diffei:ent  metals,  say  a  copper 
cent  and  a  silver  quarter,  or  copper  and  zinc,  perfectly 
clean  and  tasteless,  and  place  one  over  and  the  other 
under  the  tongue,  so  that  no  part  of  the  one  shall  touch 
the  other,  he  will  perceive  no  taste  or  sensible  effect ; 
but  if  he  bring  the  edges  of  each  piece  together,  so  as 
to  touch  at  any  point,  immediately  will  he  perceive  a 
strong  taste  of  one  or  both  of  the  metals,  and  perhaps 
a  slight  twinge  of  pain.  This  is  galvanic  action,  or  a 
particular  development  of  electricity,  and  this  shows 
the  conditions  necessary  to  produce  it.  Two  metals 
connected  at  least  at  one  point,  but  no  matter  how 
intimately,  must  both  be  moistened  by  some  liquid, 
and  if  the  liquid  be  salt  or  acid  the  effect  will  be 
stronger. 

Many  of  our  culinary  utensils  have  two  metals  con-  ^ 


GALVANIC  ACTION  ON  METALS. 


357 


nected,  as  pans  with  tin  tops  and  copper  bottoms,  or 
tin  soldered  with  lead,  which  tin  is  itself  iron  with  a  tin 
coating;  or  stew-pans  of  iron  coated  with  zinc  or  tin, 
&c.,  as  are  also  water  pipes,  coated  with  zinc  or  tin,  or 
soldered  at  their  joints,  or  attached  to  a  copper  pump. 
These  are  more  or  less  active  batteries  according  to  the 
amount  of  metal  thus  united,  the  extent  to  which  it  is 
exposed  to  the  liquid,  and  the  character  of  the  liquid — 
whether  acid,  or  salt,  or  pure. 

Copper  and  also  galvanized  iron  pumps  are  power- 
ful batteries^  affecting  the  taste  of  the  water  in  them 
in  a  very  few  minutes,  especially  if  the  water  be  hard. 
So  is  also  a  large  boiler,  partly  tin  and  partly  copper,  * 
or  any  vessel  with  the  bottom  of  one  metal  and  the  top 
of  another.  But  the  most  dangerous  battery  to  which 
families  in  the  country  are  exposed  is  zinc  or  tin-coated 
lead  pipe ^  which,  when  the  coating  is  imperfect,  as  it 
generally  is,  is  honey-combed  in  a  few  months,  espe- 
cially if  the  water  be  hard,  the  lead  and  zinc  both  being 
dissolved  in  the  water.  Tin  cans  for  fruits,  unless  the 
tin  is  good,  and  the  coating  so  perfect  that  the  iron  is 
not  exposed  to  the  acid  juice  at  any  one  point,  and 
unless  made  tight  without  solder,  must  have  some  influ- 
ence on  the  juice  of  the  fruit.  Soda  fountains,  being 
made  of  different  metals,  and  their  contents  being  active 
salts,  are  quite  effective  batteries,  and  undoubtedly  im- 
pregnate the  soda  with  their  metallic  poisons. 

But  the  most  powerful  galvanic  battery,  and  that  to 
the  deleterious  influence  of  which  city  people  are  most 
exposed,  is  formed  of  a  large  copper  boiler  in  the/ 


358 


A  BATTERY  IN  EVERY  KITCHEN. 


kitchen,  connected  by  three  or  four  coils  of  lead  pipe 
to  a  larw  zinc-lined  cistern  in  the  attic. 

Here  is  a  battery,  affecting  all  the  water  in  the  cis- 
tern, boiler,  and  the  lead  pipes  intervening,  impregnat- 
ing it  every  moment  with  dissolved  lead,  copper,  and 
zinc,  and  causing  in  those  who  use  the  water  the  com- 
bined pains  and  cumulative  diseases  which  these  three 
most  poisonous  metals  are  known  to  produce. 

It  is  true  that  Cochituate,  Croton,  Schuylkill,  and 
Mystic  waters,  with  which  Boston,  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, and  Charlestovvn  ai^e  supplied,  and  the  waters 
with  which  cities  generally  are  supplied,  are  so  nearly 
pure  as  to  have  much  less  galvanic  influence  than  hard 
waters. 

But  remembering  the  fact  referred  to,  that  a  clean 
cent  and  a  clean  silver  quarter,  with  less  than-  an  inch 
of  surface  each,  moistened  by  the  pure  juices  of  the 
ton2:ue  of  the  purest  mouth,  will  produce  a  suflScient 
effect  to  give  a  distinct  and  instantaneous  taste  of  cop- 
per and  silver  ;  and  remembering  that  a  galvanic  battery 
has  power  to  dissolve  metals  in  proportion  to  the  extent 
of  the  surface  of  the  metals  composing  it,  and  that  we 
cret  the  -influence  of  this  vast  extent  of  surface  of  copper 
of  the  boiler,  lead  sometimes  of  all  the  pipes  in  the 
house,  and  zinc  on  the  whole  surface  of  the  cistern, 
and  we  cannot  fail  to  realize  that  the  influence  must  be 
appalling,  even  with  soft  water.  Indeed,  we  know  that 
copper  boilers  are  constantly  requiring  repairs,  the  lead 
pipe,  especially  about  the  soldered  joints,  constantly 
rustino-  into  holes  and  leaking,  and  the  cistern  always 
coated  with  a  white  crust  of  salts  of  zinc. 


SOURCES  OF  POISON  IN  FAMILIES.  359 

The  danger  from  this  influence  is  much  less  in  some 
houses  than  others.  Some  have  no  cistern ,  and  there- 
fore have  a  less  powerful  battery  and  none  of  the  dele- 
terious influence  of  zinc.  Some  have  service  pipes 
connected  directly  with  the  pipes  of  the  street,  and  can 
get  water  that  is  not  subject  to  this  galvanic  influence 
by  keeping  it  carefully  drawn  out  of  the  service  pipes' 
before  use  for  the  family. 

Others  get  all  the  water  through  the  cistern,  the  pipes 
all  going  into  it,  and  the  water  all  going  into  the  gal- 
vanic circle  before  it  can  be  drawn  ;  but  on  inquiring, 
as  I  always  do,  for  water  to  use  with  medicine,  directly 
from  the  street,  I  find  not  one  housekeeper  in  ten  who 
can  tell  whether  the  water  in  any  particuhir  part  of  the 
house  comes  from  the  cistern  or  not.  They  are  gener- 
ally, but  not  always,  afraid  of  warm  water  that  comes 
from  the  copper  boiler,  and  that  is  the  extent  of  their 
care  on  that  subject. 

If  the  water  used  in  cooking  or  drinking  comes  di- 
rectly from  the  street  pipes,  there  is  no  great  danger, 
with  care  always  to  draw  off",  before  using  it,  all  the 
water  that  stands  in  the  service  pipes  ;  but  water  within 
the  galvanic  circle,  such  as  has  been  explained,  cannot 
be  drawn  pure.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that,  in  the  experiment  with  the  cent  and  the  silver  quar- 
ter, the  taste  of  the  copper  and  silver  is  instantaneously 
produced  when  the  edges  of  the  metals  touch  each  other, 
and  continues  as  long  as  they  remain  in  contact. 

Ice-Pitchers,  Another  source  of  poison  from  gal- 
vanic action,  of  no   inconsiderable   consequence,  is 


360  SOURCES  OF  POISON  IN  FAMILIES. 

water  standing  in  ice-pitchers.  Until  lately,  to  protect 
them  from  injury  by  ice  falling  into  them,  the  bottoms 
were  made  of  a  thick  layer  of  a  cheaper  metal,  which 
forms,  with  the  top,  a  battery  that  is  constantly  dis- 
solving one  or  all  the  different  metals  of  which  it  is 
composed,  and  the  action  is  so  great  as  to  cause  them 
\o  be  constantly  leaking,  till  the  trouble  of  keeping 
them  in  repair,  rather  than  the  danger  of  poison,  has 
brought  into  use  pitchers  made  only  of  one  metal,  or, 
what  is  better,  unless  made  without  solder,  a  metal 
surrounding  a  glass  pitcher,  which  is  absolutely  safe. 

Cooking  utensils,  made  of  one  metal,  either  of  iron, 
copper,  zinc,  or  block  tin,  if  kept  clean,  impart  no  dele- 
terious influence  to  food  in  the  common  modes  of  cook- 
ing; but  in  making  pickles,  with  vinegar,  in  copper 
kettles,  to  give  them  a  good  green  color;  in  making 
lemonade  in  tubs  and  buckets  painted  with  white  lead ; 
in  keeping  acid  sauces,  preserved  acid  fruits,  pickles, 
&c.,  in  earthen  jars  glazed  with  a  preparation  of  lead ; 
besides  the  various  other  sources  of  poison  to  which  I 
have  referred,  families  are  constantly  exposed  to  the 
influence  of  some  dissolved  metal.  And  when  we  con- 
sider how  much  suffering  one  dissolved  metal  causes, 
the  wonder  is  not  that,  with  systems  debilitated  as  they 
are  with  the  use  of  unnatural  food,  we  suffer  so  much 
sickness  and  lose  so  many  of  our  children,  but  rather 
that  we  enjoy  any  degree  of  health. 


THE  GRECIAN  BEND. 


361 


THE  GKECIAN  BEND. 

Being  accidentally  in  a  popular  store  on  Washington 
Street,  and^seeing  the  clerks  rush  to  the  window,  with 
the  exclamation,  "O,  my  !  "  my  attention  was  called  to 
an  elegantly -dressed  young  lady  in  the  street,  doing 
the  exquisite  on  the  Grecian  bend.  She  was  evidently 
a  disciple  of  the  English  dressmaker  and  authoress  re- 
ferred to  (page  103),  who,  in  order  to  restore  the  old 
spider-waist  fashion,  recommends  that  the  waists  of 
genteel  young  ladies  should  never  be  allowed  to 
measure  but  fifteen  inches  in  circumference  —  that  is, 
five  inches  in  diameter. 

I  had  never  before  seen  a  genuine  Grecian  bend, 
excepting  in  the  monkey  begging  for  pennies  for  his 
master,  and  the  little  dog  asking  for  a  bit  of  bread; 
and  the  resemblance  in  the  cases  seemed  to  me  re- 
markable, not  only  on  account  of  the  motives  which 
induced  the  ridiculous  attitude  (in  which,  by  the  way, 
the  dog  and  the  monkey^ had  the  advantage,  they  aim- 
ing at  substantial  good,  while  she  sought  only  admira- 
tion), but  in  the  peculiar  waddle  of  gait  with  which 
they  progressed.  And  I  said  to  myself,  "  What  can 
be  the  philosophy  of  this  remarkable  resemblance  ? " 
On  reflection,  I  think  the  explanation  is  anatomical. 
Ladies,  being  intended  to  walk  erect,  have  hip-joints 


362 


THE  GRECIAN  BEND. 


SO  constructed  that  they  move  smoothly  and  gracefully 
only  in  that  position,  while  those  joints  in  quadrupeds 
are  constructed  to  move  smoothly  while  in  the  horizon- 
tal position.  In  assuming  the  Grecian  bend,  therefore, 
the  joints  of  both  quadrupeds  and  bipeds  are  out  of 
place  alike,  and  the  waddling  motion  is,  of  course, 
alike  in  each. 

She  waddled  a  few  rods  past  the  store,  and,ihen  turned 
round,  smiling,  or  rather  smirking,  complacently  on 
her  ''crowd  of  admirers,"  with  an  expression  of  face 
which  seemed  to  say,  with  the  correspondent  of  the 
author  referred  to,  "All  my  torture  is  repaid  by  the 
admiration  I  excite."  And  I  wanted  to  quote  the 
apostrophe  of  Burns  to  the  louse  :  — 

«<  O,  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us  ! 
It  wad  frae  monie  a  blunder  free  us  * 

An'  foolish  notion : 
What  airs  in  dress  arC  gait  wad  lea^e  us^ 
And  e'en  devotion ! " 

The  silly  thing  had  probably  read  the  book  referred 
to,  in  which  is  said  to  be  repeated,  three  or  four  times, 
the  slander  on  all  men  of  common  sense,  ''  Men  admire 
taper  waists,"  and  had  conceived  the  ridiculous  idea 
that  men  also  admire  the  monkey  waddle ;  but  I  wish 
that  she,  and  all  other  addle-headed  girls  who  are  bent 
on  deformity  (pardon  the  miserable  pun) ,  could  know 
what  those  sensible  ^young  men  did  think  of  her,  and 
what  all  sensible  men,  young  or  old,  think  of  such, 
or  any  attempts  to  improve  the  natural  gait  or  form. 


THE  GRECIAN  BEND. 


363 


One  of  them  asked  me  to  write  a  chapter  on  the  Grecian 
Bend  ;  but  the  chapter  in  which  it  belongs  being  already 
printed,  I  can  only  follow  the  example  of  the  renowned 
Lord  Timothy  Dexter,  who  placed  his  commas,  semi- 
colons, colons,  &c.,  on  a  page  of  his  book  by  them- 
selves, with  the  request  that  each  reader  should  "  pepper 
according  to  his  own  taste."  This  article  being  in- 
tended for  condiment  only,  may  be  used  in  like  man- 
ner to  spice  any  dull  article,  according  to  the  discretion 
of  the  reader ;  but  it  properly  belongs  with  the  consid- 
eration of  other  deformations  (page  101). 


IS    PHOSPHATIC    BREAD   POISONOUS  ? 


"HOW  NOT  TO  BE  SICK." 

APPENDIX  TO  FOURTH  EDITION. 

The  importance  to  the  community  of  the  question, 
whether  Professor  Horsford's  Patent  Cream  of  Tartar,  and 
other  bread  preparations,  are  poisonous  or  wholesome,  will 
be  understood  by  reference  to  the  extent  to  which  they  are 
used.=^  His  manufacturers  claim  that  thirty  thousand  dollars' 
worth  have  been  sold  in  Boston  in  one  month,  and  their 
Circular  says;  ''The  largest  and  only  successful  manu- 
facturers of  self-raising  flour  in  the  United  States ; "  and 
under  the  name  of  "  Horsford's  Self-raising  Bread  Prep- 
aration'' "  Horsford's  Qream  of  Tartar','  "  Rumford  Cream 
of  Tartar,"  "  Americaii  Cream  of  Tartar,"  and  Rumford 
Yeast  Powders"  almost  every  respectable  grinder,  or 
mixer,  or  packer  of  cream  of  tartar  in  the  country,  has 
used  it  for  the  last  six  years.  These  preparations  are  all 
composed,  according  to  Professor  Horsford's  own  statement, 
of  Phosphoric  Acid,  and  Bicarbonate  of  Soda,  and  "  the 
Phosphoric  Acid  is  prepared  from  the  only  practicable 
source  of  it,  the  bones  of  beef  and  mutton."  They  are 
boiled,  then  calcined." 

The  first  suggestion  to  the  common  mind  is,  how  can 
poisonous  phosphorus  be  wholesome  in  bread  ?  How  can 
Byam  take  phosphorus  from  burned  bones,  and  make 
from  it  lucifer  matches,  the  very  making  of  which  insid- 
iously poisons  the  workmen,  so  that  before  they  know  it 
they  become  diseased,  past  cure,  their  bones  decay,  and 
they  die  a  horrible  death,  —  and  Parsons  make  from  it 

*  Baron  Liebig  writes,  "  My  friend  and  former  pupil  Horsford  has  written 
me  that  in  the  last  year  a  million  pounds  of  his  acid  powder  have  been  sold,'* 


IS  PHOSPHATIC  BREAD  POISONOUS?  365 


a  "  Vermin  and  Insect  Exterminator,"  which,  spread  on 
bread  and  butter  and  placed  in  their  way,  is  warranted  to 
kill  rats,  mice,  roaches,  bed-bugs,  etc.,  —  and  Professor 
Horsford  take  the  same  element,  obtained  in  the  same  way, 
and  putting  it  into  bread,  declare  it  to  be  wholesome  ? 

The  name  of  phosphorus  not  being  taking,  and  cream 
of  tartar  being  known  to  be  a  natural  and  harmless  acid, 
deposited  from  the  juice  of  the  grape,  the  name  of  cream 
of  tartar  is  substituted  for  phosphoric  acid,  and  thousands 
of  people  are  using  it  daily,  honestly  believing  that  they 
are  taking  natural,  organized,  wholesome  acid  from  the 
grape. 

And  now  that  in  my  "  Philosophy  of  Eating,"  and  "  How 
not  to  be  sick,"  I  give  my  opinion  of  this  matter,  and  my 
reasons  for  it,  and  people  are  beginning  to  be  afraid  of 
Patent  Cream  of  Tartar,  and  withhold  their  orders  for  it, 
an  injunction  is  put  on  my  publishers  in  New  York,  for- 
bidding the  delivery  of  a  single  book,  even  to  the  author, 
on  pain  of  a  suit,  with  heavy  damages  for  libel.  And  I 
am  obliged  to  issue  a  writ  of  replevin,  and  assume  the  pub- 
lication myself,  to  compel  them  to  bring  the  suit  in  Massa- 
chusetts, where  injunctions  cannot  be  obtained  for  green- 
backs, but  only  by  a  bill  in  equity. 

Being  exceedingly  averse  to  a  lawsuit,  however  sure  of 
being  in  the  right,  I  have,  through  a  mutual  friend,  made 
Professor  Horsford  a  proposition,  of  which  the  following  is 
a  copy  verbatim  :  "  To  prevent  a  suit,  I  will  agree  to  pub- 
lish in  the  next  edition  of '  Philosophy  of  Eating,'  or  '  How 
not  to  be  sick,'  any  article  of  warrantable  length  which  he 
chooses  to  write,  correcting  any  error  in  chemistry,  or  fact, 
relating  to  his  Phosphatic  Yeast  Powders ;  or  any  words, 
or  opinions,  or  charges  by  which  I  have  done  him  injury." 
If  he  were  right  and  I  wrong,  what  better  chance  could  he 
ask  than  this  to  show  up  my  errors  in  my  own  book ;  but 
his  answer  is,, "  In  reply  to  the  proposition  which  you  sug- 
gest, I  decline  it." 

In  return  he  makes,  through  the  treasurer  of  his  manu 


366 


IS  PHOSPHATIC  BREAD  POISONOUS? 


facturing  company,  the  following  verbal  proposition  :  "  We 
will  not  institute  a  suit,  if  all  the  words  and  sentences 
which  tend  to  injure  the  sale  of  the  bread  preparation 
shall  be  left  out  of  both  books."  To  comply  with  this 
requisition  would  be  to  take  out  the  key-stone,  which  sup- 
ports the  system  of  dietetics,  on  which  I  have  been  quietly 
at  work  for  the  last  thirty  years,  and  which  culminates  in 
the  "  Philosophy  of  Eating." 

VTHAT    ARE    THE    DOCTRINES    AND    STATEMENTS  WHICH 
TEND  TO  INJURE  THE  PHOSPHATIC  BREAD  BUSINESS  ? 

Before  man  was  created,  a  law  was  instituted  by  which, 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  through  that  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  should  be  stored  all  the  phosphorus,  iron,  and 
other  elements,  except  those  found  in  the  atmosphere  and 
water,  that  should  ever  be  wanted  in  the  human  system, 
either  to  form  it  or  keep  it  in  repair,  and  those  elements 
are  so  organized  as  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  assimilating 
powers  of  every  organ ;  these  elements,  if  not  thus  organ- 
ized, are  all  rejected  with  more  or  less  excitement,  to  pre- 
vent their  being  forced  into  the  system,  and  are  more  or 
less  poisonous  according  to  their  importance. 

Phosphorus  being  the  most  important  element  in  the 
system,  is,  if  not  organized,  according  to  this  law,  the  most 
poisonous  of  any  of  those  elements.  Let  this  point  be 
illustrated,  and  it  requires  no  chemical  knowledge  to  see  it. 
In  a  common  sized  man  there  are  about  two  pounds  of  phos- 
phorus diffused  in  the  bones,  muscles,  brain,  nerves,  and 
every  part  of  the  system.  This  phosphorus  is  used  up 
and  evolved  from  the  system  by  every  action  of  mind  or 
muscle.  In  this  way  every  active  man  uses  up  more  than 
an  ounce  of  phosphorus  every  day.  A  pound  of  beef, 
and  a  pound  of  wheat  bread,  with  a  few  potatoes,  or  other 
vegetables,  contain  this  ounce  of  phosphorus  in  a  condi- 
tion to  be  gratefully  received  by  the  system  to  restore  the 
waste ;  but  take  that  beef  and  bread,  and  those  vegetables, 


TS  Pt!OSPHATIC  BREAD  POISONOUS?  867 


and  burn  them,  and  in  the  ashes  would  be  obtained  phos- 
phorus enough  to  kill  a  hundred  men.  And  here  is  the 
whole  question  in  a  nutshell.  Phosphorus  in  wheat  is  or- 
ganized in  the  crust  under  the  hull,  and  in  that  condition  a 
whole  ounce  can  be  eaten  with  impunity ;  but  to  make 
*  white  flour  it  is  mostly  bolted  out.  Can  Professor  Horsford 
take  disorganized  phosphorus  from  burned  bones,  two 
grains  of  which  will  kill  a  man,  and  in  spite  of  this  law  of 
nature,  make  of  this  poison  wholesome  food  for  children  ? 

For  eighteen  months  this  question  has  been  repeatedly 
asked  him  by  the  readers  of  the  "  Philosophy  of  Eating," 
verbally  and  in  private  letters. 

In  a  lecture  before  the  American  Institute,  and  in  a 
Circular  sent  everywhere  to  customers,  he  makes  this 
reply  only  —  "  Baron  Liebig,  to  whom  th^  world  is  more 
indebted  than  to  any  living  scientific  man,  has  given  the 
following  testimony :  '  I  consider  this  invention  as  one  of 
the  most  useful  gifts  which  science  has  made  to '  man- 
kind !  It  is  certain  that  the  nutritive  value  of  flour  will 
^  be  increased  ten  per  cent,  by  your  phosphatic  bread 
preparation,  and  the  result  is  precisely  the  same  as  if  the 
fertility  of  our  wheat  fields  had  been  increased  by  that 
amount.    What  a  wonderful  result  is  this  ! '  " 

To  say  nothing  of  the  blunder  of  supposing  that  ten  per 
cent,  can  be  added  to  the  nutrition  of  flour  by  adding  phos- 
phorus, when  by  analysis  of  four  hundred  varieties  of 
wheat,  by  the  French  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  the 
average  of  all  the  phosphorus  in  wheat  is  less  than  two 
per  cent.,  it  is  certain  that  Baron  Liebig  could  never  have 
bestowed  a  moment's  thought  on  the  question  of  animal 
assimilation  on  which  this  question  hangs.  If  he  had,  he 
would  never  believe  that  phosphorus  from  calcined  bones 
can  be  assimilated  to  supply  the  waste  in  the  system,  and 
to  take  the  place  of  phosphorus  prepared  for  assimilation 
in  Nature's  own  laboratory.  That  he  never  gave  attention 
to  this  subject  is  also  seen  by  the  fact,  so  often  quoted  by 
lovers  of  ardent  spirits,  that  he  considers  alcohol,  which 


368  IS  PHOSPHATIC  BREAD  POISONOUS? 

is  sugar  disorganized  by  fermentation,  nutritious,  because 
sugar,  which  is  organized  in  the  sap  of  the  plant  that  pro- 
duces it,  is  nutritious.   I  honor  Baron  Liebig  for  his  assid- 
uous efforts  in  the  line  of  analytical  chemistry,  by  which 
he  has  made  many  valuable  practical  discoveries,  both  in 
regard  to  food  for  animals,  and  vegetables.    But  to  vital 
chemistry  and  animal  assimilation  he  has  given  so  little 
attention,  as  not  to  know  that  animal  assimilation  and  vege- 
table assimilation  are  dependent  on  opposite  conditions  of 
matter,  animals  being  supported  only  by  living,  organized 
matter,  while  vegetables  are  supported  only  by  dead,  dis- 
organized matter.    This  may  be  illustrated  by  reference  to 
fish,  which  in  its  fresh,  organized  state  is  very  nourishing 
food,  especially  to  the  brain  and  nerves  ;  but  let  a  portion 
of  this  wholesome  food   be  exposed  to  a  hot  sun  for  a 
single  hour,  and*decomposition  commencing,  it  immediately 
becomes  poisonous.    It  contains  the  same  elements  after 
as  before  the  exposure,  and  what  explanation  can  be  given 
to  the  different  effects  of  the  different  portions,  but  that 
decomposition  changed  the  character  of  the  phosphorus, 
just  as  it  is  changed  by  calcining  bones  ?    And,  to  illus- 
trate the  difference  between  animal  and  vegetable  assimila- 
tion, it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  well-known  fact 
that  decomposed  fish  makes  one  of  our  best  fertilizers  to 
furnish  phosphorus  to  growing  wheat  and  other  grains. 
This  field  of  investigation  he  has  left  to  one  who  claims 
no  high  titles,  and  no  distinctions,  only  claiming  to  have 
very  imperfectly  improved  the  opportunities  providentially 
furnished  him  in  his  line  of  duty  for  the  last  thirty  years. 
His  brains  must  be  poor  indeed,  if,  in  preparing  over  fiva 
hundred  lectures  on  the  application  of  chemistry  to  physi- 
ology in  the  preservation  of  health,  he  did  not  get  out  some 
ideas,  and  some  principles,  and  some  facts,  which  even 
Baron  Liebig  had  never  considered,  especially  as  it  does 
not  appear  in  all  his  works  that  he  ever  gave  a  thought  to 
the  subject. 

And  now  what  shall  I  do  ?    I  verily  believe,  and  in  my 


IS  PHOSPHATIC  BREAD  POISONOUS  ?  369 

books  have  given  reasons  and  authorities  for  that  opinion, 
that  Professor  Horsford's  Patent  Cream  of  Tartar,  and  other 
phosphatic  preparations  —  in  accordance  with  the  well- 
known  fact  that  mineral  poisons  are  cumulative,  and  if  taken 
continuously  into  the  system  ki  even  very  small  quantities, 
will  sometimes  after  years  of  apparent  health  break  out 
into  incurable  and  fatal  diseases  —  are  insidiously  under- 
mining the  health  of  thousands.  And  shall  I,  for  fear  of  a 
lawsuit,  retract  these  opinions,  and  like  old  Galileo  admit, 
•for  fear  of  consequences,  that  to  be  wrong  which  I  know  to 
be  right?  Then  would  my  troubles  be  but  just  begun. 
The  venders  of  alcoholic  liquors  would  be  after  me  for  my 
opinion  that  alcohol,  being  composed  of  disorganized  ele- 
ments, is  also  poisonous.  And  they  would  bring  the  same 
high  authority  on  which  to  convict  me ;  for  both  Liebig 
and  the  learned  Professor  of  Harvard  have  testified  that 
they  are  useful,  "  dietetically  and  medically,"  and  cannot 
be  poisonous,  because  sugar,  which  is  composed  of  the  same 
elements,  is  not  poisonous.  All  the  apothecaries,  also,  would 
be  after  me  on  the  same  authority,  for  saying  that  disorgan- 
ized iron,  and  other  crude  drugs,  being  disorganized  ele- 
ments, are  injurious,  and  can  never  be  assimilated  to  im- 
prove the  blood.  Dealers  in  flour  and  butter  would  also 
sue  me,  unless  I  retract  the  opinion  that  carbonaceous 
food,  when  separated  from  natural  accompanying  elements, 
is  injurious.  And  the  venders  of  ice-pitchers,  kitchen 
boilers,  lead  pipe,  and  all  cooking  utensils  made  of  dif- 
ferent metals  united,  would  sue  me  for  saying  that  such 
utensils  impart  poisonous  influences  to  the  liquids  which 
come  in  contact  with  them,  by  a  galvanic  influence. 

I  propose,  therefore,  to  meet  this  case  as  it  is,  or  may  be 
presented,  in  hopes  that  the  public  may  be  benefited  by  an 
investigation  of  these  important  questions,  and  that  the 
interests  of  science  may  be  subserved  by  testing  our  right 
to  discuss  scientific  subjects. 

A.  J.  BELLOWS. 

90  Springfield  Strket,  Boston,  May  15, 1869. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EATING. 


r[E  pubUc  appreciation  of  this  book,  to  which  the  "How  not 
TO  BE  Sick"  is  a  sequel,  is  seen  by  the  fact  that,  with  very  little 
advertising,  the  fourth  edition  is  demanded  withm  the  first  nine 
months  of  its  publication.  Its  object  and  character  are  well  defined 
by  the  PACIFIC  MEDICAL  AND  SURGICAL  JOURNAL,  one 
of  tlie  best  medical  journals  in  the  country:  *'The  character  of  it 
is  denoted  by  its  title.  It  belongs  to  the  same  class  of  compositions 
as  that  excellent  production,  Johnston^s  Chemistry  of  Common  Life. 
It  is  not  a  medical  work,  though  it  embodies  a  vast  amount  of  knowl- 
edge not  ordinarily  found  outside  the  Umits  of  medical  Uterature. 
Without  any  quaUfications  or  misgivings,  we  commend  it,  with  great 
satisfaction,  to  the  general  reader." 

By  an  analysis  of  the  composition  of  the  human  system,  and 
showing  what  elements  are  used  every  day  in  muscular  and  mental 
labor,  and  what  are  used  in  furnishing  animal  heat;  and  by  analyses 
of  the  different  kinds  of  food  in  common  use,  we  ascertain  where  to 
get  the  necessary  elements  in  natural  food,  and  what  we  lose  in  but- 
ter, fine  flour,  &c. 

How  we  lose  the  best  elements  of  wheat,  and  how  Nature  provides 
for  more  heating  food  in  cold  climates  than  warm,  are  seen  in  the 
cuts  below,  which  were  taken  from  this  book :  — 


Yig,  1.  Wheat  of  natural  size. 

Ficr.  2.  — Wheat  magnified. 

Fig.  3.  — Southern  corn,  j  Showing  the  different  proportions  of  nutritive 
yig'.  4.  — Norf^ern  corn,  i        elements  in  each,  as  explained  page  25. 

a  The  muscle-making-  elements. 

6  The  heat  or  fat  producers. 

c  The  food  for  brains  and  nerves. 


We  have  received  from  literary  men,  editors,  &c.,  over  two  hun- 
dred voluntary  testimonials,  of  which  the  following  are  samples  :  — 


HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE :  "It  is  a  very  much  needed 
work,  and  it  strikes  me  as  written  in  a  very  clear,  popular  style,  and 
conveying  much  truth  for  which  human  nature  is  perishing." 

There  is  an  absolute  demand  for  a  book  on  the  plan  of  yours,  and 
yours  strikes  me  as  placing  these  much  needed  ideas  in  a  very  clear 
light."  As  to  the  controverted  points,  I  am,  cf  course,  no  judge. 
I  can  only  say.  Well  said,  perfectly  clear  and  intelligible,  and  im- 
portant, if  true." 

DR.  S.  DANA  HAYES,  State  Assayer  of  Massachusetts,  says 
of  the  principal  controverted  points  referred  to  by  Mrs.  Stowe : 
"Modern  investigations  certainly  sustain  the  ground  taken,  that 
organized  elements  are  the  only  ones  assimilated  in  the  human 
system." 

EPES  SARGENT,  ESQ.,  says  to  the  same  point:  "The  facts 
are,  I  believe,  in  accordance  with  the  discoveries  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced chemical  and  anatomical  science,  and  are  very  suggestive." 
"  Certainly  the  long  attention  of  the  author  to  chemistry,  in  its  re- 
lations to  food,  must  have  qualified  him  to  speak  with  authority  on 
these  points." 

JOEL  MARBLE,  ESQ.,  who  for  thirty  years  was  principal  of 
academies  and  provider  for  boarding-scholars,  says  :  "  It  presents  a 
common-sense  system,  that  can  be  put  into  practice  by  every  family. 
Su'jh  a  help  to  me  would  have  been  invaluable.  If  he  who  makes 
two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  but  one  grew  before  is  a  benefactor  to 
his  race,  what  shall  he  be  called  who  adds  months  and  years  to  men's 
lives,  and  makes  those  Lives  healthier  and  happier  ?  " 

DR.  FROST,  of  Philadelphia,  writes  :  "It  is  filled  with  valuable 
and  most  important  information." 

The  LONDON  BOOKSELLER  says:  "It  takes  much  higher 
ground  than  any  popular  volume  of  the  kind  in  England."  "  It  dis- 
cusses, and  that  in  the  most  entertaining  fashion,  the  wants  and 
resources  of  the  human  body,  the  elements  of  animal  and  vegetable 
food,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  requirements  of  the  animal  man." 

GILBERT  HAVEN,  D.  D.,  Editor  of  Zion's  Herald,  says:  "It 
examines,  in  a  thorough,  scholarly,  and  practical  manner,  the  com- 
position of  our  daily  food,  shows  what  errors  prevail  in  our  national 
diet,  and  how  they  can  be  corrected."  "Every  family  should  pos- 
sess a  copy." 


HOW  NOT  TO  BE  SICK. 

A  Sequel  to  "  Philosophy  op  Eating,"  applying  its  prin- 
ciples to  practical  subjects.  Food  for  thinking  Men.  —  Food  for 
laboring  Men.  —  Food  for  sedentary  people.  —  How  to  enjoy  Eat- 
ing. —  Dise^es  prevented  and  cured  by  Diet ;  as  Dyspepsia, 
Consumption,  Chlorosis,  Apoplexy,  Defective  Teeth,  Corpulence, 
Leanness,  Sunstroke,  Gout,  Inflammatory  Diseases,  etc.  Also, 
the  Domestic  Use  of  Medicine;  the  Different  Systems  of  Practice; 
Poisons  from  dissolved  Metals  in  Culinary  Operations,  in  making 
Bread,  etc.  The  following  opinions  have  been  expressed  by  lit- 
erary and  scientific  gentlemen,  who  have  examined  advanced 
sheets :  — 

From  HEiraiY  W.  BELLOWS,  D.  D. 

"  In  practical  sense,  underlaid  with  science  enough  to  sustain  it,  I  think  your 
work  admirable." 

F.  W.  HTJITT,  M.  D.,  Editor  of  the  "North  American' Jour- 
nal of  Homoeopathy," 

Speaking  of  the  doctrines  of  the  book,  and  of  examples  given  to  illustrate  them 
says,  they  "  will  exert  the  most  telling  influence  on  physicians  as  well  as  laymen." 

From  GILBERT  HAVEK",  D.  D.,  in  « Zion's  Herald." 

"  From  advanced  sheets  of  the  Sequel  to  the  very  popular  treatise  on  the  '  Phi- 
losophy of  Eating,'  *  How  not  to  be  Sick,'  we  judge  that  it  will  attain  an  equal  if 
not  a  greater  celebrity  than  the  former.  A  diligent  perusal  and  faithful  application 
of  the  principles  of  this  work,  would  do  much  to  undermine  the  doctor's  own  pro- 
fession, and  make  medicine  as  obsolete  as  alchemy." 

From  the  "Boston  Journal." 
"  An  examination  of  the  proof-sheets  shows  it  to  be  a  valuable  work.  The  laws 
of  health,  the  nature  of  disease  and  its  cure,  are  treated  m  the  light  of  the  latest 
discoveries  in  the  science  of  physiology,  and  so  clearly  and  intelligibly  as  to  make  it 
a. very  interesting  as  weU  as  instructive  and  useful  book.  Valuable  mformation  is 
given  for  overcoming  a  tendency  to  apoplexy,  consumption,  etc.,  and  the  general 
suggestions  on  the  subject  of  health  are  deserving  of  a  careful  consideration." 

From  WTT.T.TAM  HAGUE,  D.  D.,  in  the  "  Watchman  and 
Reflector." 

"  It  is  designed  as  a  Sequel  to  a  very  successftd  work  issued  a  year  ago,  entitled 
Philosophy  of  Eating.'  The  work  of  last  year  is  still  finding  its  way  t©  the  homes 
of  the  people,  welcomed  by  many  as  a  '  friend  in  need.'  This  new  work  is  worthy 
of  its  companion,  whose  '  position '  is  established.  The  author ,  m  his  hue  of  thought, 
keeps  step  with  the  great  leaders  of  modern  science,  and  at  the  same  tune  simplifies 
or  classifies  his  teaching  in  such  a  way  that  every  man  or  woman  may  understand 
his  meaning.  It  is  not  a  book  of  prescriptions  for  curing  diseases ;  but  of  principles 
and  directions  for  self-guidance.  In  order  to  prevent  dyspepsia,  for  instance,  the  doc- 
tor would  teach  us  how  to  educate  our  appetites  and  tastes  as  sentinels  and  guardian 
angels  for  the  stomach.  It  is  a  book  for  the  family,  for  parents  and  children  ahke, 
suggesting  many  a  good  topic  for  fireside  or  breakfast-table  talk.  We  bid  it  a  trod- 
speed  on  its  beneficent,  educational,  home-reforming  mission." 

Published  by 

HURD  &  HOUGHTOISr,  459  Broome  St.,  New  York, 

FOR  THE  AUTHOR, 
And  for  Sale  by  Booksellers  generally.    Price  $2.00  ;  or  senl  by 
mailf  postage  paid  upon  receipt  of  pi'ice. 


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